Earlier on I wanted to give the recent three-week choppy range the benefit of the doubt as potential further consolidation, but this week in particular felt more and more like near-term topping action. Indeed, while the S&P 500 (SPY) fell roughly -0.7% during the holiday shortened week, Friday’s weak jobs report precipitated further declines in the futures markets of over -1.0%, suggesting next Monday will likely get off to a rough start.
The better short-term news is that after several days of declines, the VIX is becoming stretched from its mean. This can support a bounce. Whether or not that occurs will provide keystone insight into the real health of this market that has, after all, been plagued by various divergences during its most recent leg higher.
Either way, after significant first quarter gains, the turn in news flow ahead of earnings and less favorable seasonality could prove tougher sledding ahead. This is reflected by this week’s nearest neighbor look-ahead analysis, which indicates increasingly disparate path potential.