Bullish phase under threat as the S&P stays range-bound

Stable at 4,109 and still trending upwards, Yesterday's session put the brakes on the ongoing uptrend — the S&P 500 recovered back to 4,109 after dipping down to 4,072.55, in a session that followed Thursday's 4,105 close value.

United States EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook is next today at 16:00 UTC.

S&P 500 made an initial break below its 5 day Simple Moving Average at 4,075, a possible indication of a forthcoming negative trend. The S&P's upper Bollinger Band® is at 4,159.21, suggesting that a downward move may follow. On the other hand, note that the S&P is approaching key support, around 49 points away from 4,060. Dipping below could indicate further losses are ahead while a failure to break below this level is likely to be seen positively by market bulls.

Although price action remains in a stalemate, technical analysis suggests the S&P 500 could be primed for a break to the downside.

While the S&P was pretty flat yesterday, mixed performances were seen elsewhere as ASX 200 went up by 1.26% yesterday, and closed at 7,310. Notably, KOSPI Composite Index rose 1.42% yesterday and closed at 2,512.

Data to be released today might clear up some of the market fog as United States Crude Oil Inventories is projected to outperform its last figure with -1.3 million. It previously stood at -3.74 million; data will be released tomorrow at 14:30 UTC. United States Consumer Price Index is expected tomorrow at 12:30 UTC. United States Core Consumer Prices figure is projected at 0.4%. It previously stood at 0.5%; data will be released tomorrow at 12:30 UTC.

The S&P has recovered 14.76% since descending to a significant low of 3,577 around 5 months ago.