SPX futures are now above the descending trendline, making a new high at 4041.00. Yesterday’s fake-out challenged the 200-day Moving Average at 2961.61, then bounced to the trendline at the close. The Cycles Model calls for another week in the current Master Cycle. Should the rally find its legs, it may go as high as the Cycle Top currently at 4252.08. However, keep in mind that there are two resistance levels (not shown) prior to that, at 4065.00 and 4100.00.

In today’s op-ex, Maximum Pain for options investors is at 3995.00, while 4000.00 is hotly contested by both puts and calls. Long gamma may begin at 4050.00, while short gamma starts at 3950.00. While short gamma was contested yesterday, it appears that long gamma may have its turn today.

ZeroHedge reports, “In a mirror image of Tuesday’s action, when MSFT earnings hammered stocks (after first headfaking them higher) only to see the selloff reverse completely during the course of Wednesday trading, on Thursday US equity futures and tech stocks were set to gain after an upbeat earnings report from Tesla reinforced optimism about the health of Corporate America. As of 7:30am, Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.7% while S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%. Tesla jumped about 8% in premarket trading after the electric-car maker reported better-than-expected profit and said it was on track to deliver about 1.8 million vehicles this year. Risk sentiment was boosted by news that US energy giant Chevron had authorized a massive $75 billion stock buyback, representing 22% of its outstanding shares, helping elevate energy stocks around the globe. Asia stocks jumped to 9-month highs as Hong Kong returned from break and European stocks rose by 0.4%. Meanwhile, the dollar continued to weaken as speculation continued to mount that the Fed is drawing closer to the end of its rate-hiking cycle, and would follow in the footsteps of first Canada and then Indonesia, both of which have officially paused. Bonds and gold edged lower.”

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