The XJO is expected to edge higher on open this morning following the U.S last night which saw their market retake early session losses to finish flat. U.S futures are also in the red.

Yesterday we gave up early session gains, rebounding off 7,100 resistance intraday. This morning we will retest these levels which come in at roughly 7,080 to 7,100. Like yesterday, we should continue to expect indecision. The U.S is trading in a tight consolidation range, and we shouldn’t expect anything different from our market.

We will, of course, need to wait and see which way markets push, but it seems clear at this stage that negativity and tentativeness still underpin our market. U.S retail sales came in stronger than expected last night, and with Fed members due to talk over the next few days, we may see more hawkish tones.

US Markets

US shares closed fairly flat overnight, with technology stocks dragging markets lower. US economic data overnight was seen as quite inflationary, with Retail Sales growth for September coming in much stronger than expected. This data sent bond yields higher again, as investors rushed to price in the chance of more interest rate rises. With the data, US markets opened firmly lower, but they did recover throughout the session to finish higher. Tonight we will see plenty of Federal Reserve members speak, and they will likely remain fairly hawkish after the recently strong economic data – if that is the case, we could see share markets move lower. On the earnings front, US company earnings reporting was again quite positive overnight, with better than expected results from Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America Corp, and Lockheed Martin amongst others.

Seven of the eleven sector groups of the SP500 closed higher overnight, with Materials and Energy stocks the strongest performers. Technology stocks saw the most selling.

Technically, the SP500 is stuck between support around 4,330 and resistance around 4,385. Overall the index has started to form lower peaks and troughs and could be forming a downwards move. Should the resistance at 4,330 break, we could see a move to a potential downtrend line around 4,420. Should the support at 4,330 break, we should see a move back towards the longer-term uptrend line around 4,250.

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