Before the Open (Aug 4)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed – Japan dropped 2%. Europe is down across the board – losses are minimal. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market. This comes off an inside day for the S&P where all of the action was contained within the high and low of the previous day.
Here’s the 30-min S&P we’ve been working off of. The indexes traded through trendline resistance and 1100 but didn’t go far before pulling back to backtest the trendline. Now the index is near its high of the move off the July low but still below the June high. So far, so good, but there’s still work to be done. We certainly can’t get complacent…

…considering there’s a rising bearish wedge forming on the daily chart.

Employment numbers come out 60 min before Friday’s open. Day traders don’t have to worry much because they’ll be in cash when the numbers are released. Swing traders need to decide how much exposure they’re willing to have given the release rarely changes the market for more than a day or so. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings Reports
this week’s Economic Numbers