What Happened On Fri Dec 15 2017
Friday saw all three major indexes move to new all-time highs on strong volume as December 15 marked the final monthly options expiry for 2017.
Closing Statistics for Fri Dec 15 2017
S&P 500 Index Close
The S&P index ended up 23.80 to 2675.81
Dow Jones Index Close
The Dow Jones ended up 143.08 to 24,651.74
NASDAQ Index Close
The NASDAQ closed up 80.06 to 6,936.58
Stock Market Outlook – Review of Fri Dec 15 2017
Chart Comments At The Close:
On Friday the S&P closed higher but still below the Upper Bollinger Band. This left behind a bullish candlestick for Monday. All the major moving averages are climbing and the Lower Bollinger Band is also rising. Either this will result in the S&P moving higher, or the index entering a new Bollinger Bands Squeeze sometime later this week. As this is the Christmas period and the Santa Claus rally is expected to start after Christmas, we should expect the index to move higher.
Stock Market Outlook review of Fri Dec 15 2017
Stock Market Outlook: Technical Indicators:
Momentum: For momentum I use a 10 period when studying market direction. Momentum is positive and rose on Friday.
MACD Histogram: For MACD Histogram, I am using the Fast Points set at 13, Slow Points at 26 and Smoothing at 9. MACD (Moving Averages Convergence / Divergence) issued a buy signal on Nov 28. The up signal was a bit stronger on Friday.
Ultimate Oscillator: The Ultimate Oscillator settings are: Period 1 is 5, Period 2 is 10, Period 3 is 15, Factor 1 is 4, Factor 2 is 2 and Factor 3 is 1. These are not the default settings but are the settings I use with the S&P 500 chart set for 1 to 3 months. The Ultimate Oscillator signal is negative and movied sideways unmoved by Friday’s massive rally.
Slow Stochastic: For the Slow Stochastic I use the K period of 14 and D period of 3. The Slow Stochastic tries to predict the market direction further out than just one day. The Slow Stochastic has a down signal in place for Monday despite Friday’s rally.
Relative Strength Index: The relative strength index is set for a period of 5 which gives it 5 days of market movement to monitor. It often is the first indicator to show an overbought or oversold signal. The RSI signal is no longer overbought and is moving higher.
Rate of Change: Rate Of Change is set for a 21 period. This indicator looks back 21 days and compares price action from the past to the present. The rate of change signal is positive and rose sharply on Friday to the highest reading in more than 3 months, which normally signals higher prices are ahead.
Support Levels To Be Aware Of:
The 2600 is building some light support.
There is good support at the 2550 level which could assist in keeping the index up for December.
The S&P has light support at 2480. It also has light support at 2450 and good support at 2425. Below that there is some support at 2400, 2380, 2350. 2300 has the most support at present.
Stock Market Outlook for Tomorrow – Mon Dec 18 2017
For Friday the S&P outlook is predominantly higher although a rally as strong on Friday’s often sees a pullback the following day before the market rallies again.
Overall this is a bullish time of the year for stocks and with the enthusiasm for the Tax Reform Bill stocks should move higher on Monday in what may turn out to be a choppy session.
Overall the technical indicators are 4 bullish, one neutral and one lower. The bulls should win out.
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