E-mini S&P 500 Index (ES) Futures Technical Analysis – January 22, 2018 Forecast

March E-mini S&P 500 Index futures are trading slightly lower shortly before the cash market opening. The range is tight, volume is low and the market is trading inside Friday’s range, indicating investor indecision and impending volatility.

The global markets finished mixed on Monday with Asia drifting higher and Europe trading flat.

The key earnings reports today will come from Halliburton, Netflix, TD Ameritrade and Brown & Brown. There are no major economic releases including Fed speakers so we expect all eyes to be on Washington politics.

According to CNBC, later today at 1700 GMT, the Senate is expected to try to restore federal funding again, whether on a temporary basis or for longer, while trying to fix an issue over immigration. If the vote is successful, the government will reopen on Tuesday.

Daily Technical Analysis

The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. A trade through 2815.00 will signal a resumption of the uptrend. Today’s session also begins with the index in the window of time for a potentially bearish closing price reversal top.

A trade through 2791.75 will make 2815.00 a new minor top.

The short-term range is 2736.50 to 2815.00. If there is selling pressure then its retracement zone at 2775.75 to 2766.50 will become the primary downside target.

Daily Technical Forecast

Based on the early price action, the nearest upside target is 2815.00. The nearest downside target is a steep uptrending Gann angle at 2792.50. Since the main trend is up, we could see a technical bounce on the first test of this angle.

If 2792.50 fails as support then the next support angle comes in at 2779.50. This is followed closely by the short-term 50% level at 2775.75.

Strong earnings reports and an end to the shutdown could trigger a spike through 2815.00. Bearish news and more uncertainty over the length of the shutdown could trigger a break into the support angles.