Thursday's Market Minute: S&P Futures Drift Upward Into Year's End

S&P 500 futures are up roughly 17% for the year and near all-time highs as the final trading day of 2020 dawns. Remarkably, the /ES is also up about 73% off the depths of the Covid-19 selloff lows in March. More recently, we’ve seen a period of choppy prices on relatively low and declining volume during December, which is not necessarily unusual as this is typically a slower time for markets. Some other things to keep in mind are that the /ES contract is showing bearish divergence between price (which continues to squeeze out new highs) and the RSI (which hasn’t made a new high since Dec. 8). The ADX also has been falling since that time, suggesting the trading environment is growing increasingly trendless. Important technical levels to the downside include the 21-day Exponential Moving Average near 3680, the one-year Linear Regression line near 3580, and the 64-day EMA near 3565. Volume Profile also shows heavy trading between 3660 and 3680, which could be a key price area for bulls to defend as the new trading year begins.