S&P 500 Futures Trading Outlook For May 25

Stock Market Futures Considerations For May 25, 2017, to May 26, 2017

The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) is pushing new highs but a divergence is building once more. Higher is likely but traders need to stay focused.

Check out today’s economic calendar with a full rundown of releases.  And note that the charts below are from our premium service at The Trading Book and are shared exclusively with See It Market readers.

S&P 500 Index Chart

S&P 500 Futures (ES)

Overnight formations test all-time highs as buyers held the gap. Charts are in a breach formation under generally bullish momentum, meaning that the first pass tests into higher lows will bring buyers once more.  Short trades are dangerous here without proper signaling from price action.  As divergence builds once again, it seems that traders looking at negative undercurrents are choosing the wrong side of the trade for now.  As it stands, buyers remain in charge (albeit under cautious surroundings). Pullbacks into support will still find buyers at the first pass into key support. My suspicion is that we are in some kind of squeeze as short traders position poorly, and long traders press the charts forward.  The bullets below represent the likely shift of trading momentum at the positive or failed retests at the levels noted.

• Buying pressure intraday will likely strengthen above a positive retest of 2412.5 (though that is resistance for now)
• Selling pressure intraday will likely strengthen with a failed retest of 2402.25
• Resistance sits near 2412.5 to 2417.5, with 2421.5 and 2427.75 above that.
• Support holds between 2402.5 and 2395.5, with 2391.5 and 2386.75 below that.

NASDAQ Futures (NQ)

Early morning motion shows charts headed higher here in the NQ_F as traders continue to press forward.  Pullbacks will be bought in these formations, but there is a signal both with the ES_F and the NQ as well as the YM, that the breakouts will fail into higher supports.  If momentum does collapse anywhere in these charts, traders will attempt a bounce pattern before a real short opens.  There is just too much upside pressure for any of these charts to move downward and not bounce.    The bullets below represent the likely shift of trading momentum at the positive or failed tests at the levels noted.

• Buying pressure intraday will likely strengthen with a positive retest of 5760.5
• Selling pressure intraday will likely strengthen with a failed retest of 5724.75
• Resistance sits near 5759.5 to 5770.25, with 5778.75 and 5792.25 above that.
• Support holds between 5706.75 and 5693.5, with 5675.75 and 5652.5 below that.

Crude Oil –WTI

The backdrop of earlier in the week remains the same -OPEC continues to chatter about extended curbs on production and long traders have been rewarded with the purchase at any dips.   Pullbacks into higher lows are still likely to find buyers- as my last write up suggested.  I am particularly interested in the behavior at 51.9 -a breach and hold there will be very bullish but there are a lot of sellers waiting in this region.  A potential breach and fade is on the horizon but bullish momentum suggests that buyers will step in to hold us above critical levels noted in prior posts. The bullets below represent the likely shift of trading momentum at the positive or failed tests at the levels noted.

• Buying pressure intraday will likely strengthen with a positive retest of 51.92
• Selling pressure intraday will strengthen with a failed retest of 50.2
• Resistance sits near 51.87 to 52.15, with 52.54 and 53.01 above that.
• Support holds between 50.13 and 49.8, with 49.25 and 48.79 below that.

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week.

Twitter:  @AnneMarieTrades

The author trades stock market futures every day and may have a position in mentioned securities at the time of publication. Any opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person or entity.