Next Direction?

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Chippity chop, chop, chop, chop. And so it goes. The big news Friday morning is going to be the employment report. The history of this lately has been pretty nasty.

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This is bound to cause fireworks. My intuition is that it would take a shocking report to really get the market moving down hard. Anything less-than-shocking will be seen as "good news" and cause a bounce.

But how much of a bounce? Just look at how 'trapped' the market is right now. First, look at the daily chart of the /ES:

That seems relatively bullish, doesn't it? So long as it holds above 886.50, the ES looks like a pretty good buy, and if it gets above 942.75, the bulls will go wild. But let's take a closer look.

That line at 916.50, and all the price activity for almost 30 points above it, is pretty tough. The jobs market report is going to break the stalemate, one way or another. Or at least I hope so. Trading tiny ranges stinks.

As for energy, as I mentioned earlier, this pattern was compelling enough for me to switch sides from bear to bull.

But take note of that pink highlighted area, which ranges from 80.73 to 88.15 on the OIH. That's the Rectangle of Truth right now (not to be confused with the Hexagon of Justice). Break above, and zoom, up we go. Break below, and, fizzle-fazzle, we fart around.

And on that sophisticated technical note, I shall bid you a good evening. Tomorrow morning should be a humdinger.