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S&P 500 Forecast: Index Drifts a Bit Lower Ahead of CPI

By Christopher Lewis
Senior Technical Analyst

Christopher Lewis is a technical analyst and market commentator at DailyForex with more than two decades of trading experience in Forex and other leveraged markets. Based in Columbus, Ohio, he specializes in chart-based analysis of major currency pairs, stock indices, commodities, and energy markets, focusing on clear support and resistance levels, trend structure, and risk management. Christopher produces daily written and video analysis for tra...

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This is a market that I think will continue to see a lot of choppy behavior, with the 4200 level above could offering a bit of a barrier.

  • The S&P 500 Index drifted a little bit on Tuesday as we are awaiting the CPI numbers on Wednesday.
  • The CPI numbers will give us a bit of a hint as to where the Federal Reserve will be looking as far as monetary policy is concerned.
  • Keep in mind that the market is likely to see a lot of noisy behavior ahead of this announcement, and then most certainly after it.

Keep an Eye on CPI

The Core CPI is going to be the measurement to watch and is expected to come in at a 0.5% month-over-month reading. If it comes in hotter than that, the S&P 500 will almost certainly get sold into. If we break down below the 4100 level, it’s likely that the market could go down to the 4000 handle. The 50-day EMA is sitting underneath there and could offer support as well, but it’s closer to the 4900 level.

This is a market that I think will continue to see a lot of choppy behavior, with the 4200 level above could offering a bit of a barrier. If we were to somehow break above there, then it’s likely that we could go to the 4300 level. Keep in mind that we are at a major area of noise in the past, and an area where I think a lot of “market memory” could come into the picture. The size of the candle is neither here nor there, but the fact that we pulled back from a shooting star is not a huge surprise. I suppose you could take a look at this through the prism of a “hint”, as we had formed a hammer followed by a shooting star, and then actually had a bit of a body in this negative candlestick. However, if there is enough of a surprise from the announcement, that could cause the volatility to pick up in either direction.

When you look at the chart, you can see that I have attached a blue box where we had action previously, and I think this is what we are struggling with right now due to the “market memory” in that general vicinity. This is a market that continues to see a lot of interest, so it’ll come down to whether or not Wall Street thinks it’s going to get it’s fixed.

S&P 500 Index

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Senior Technical Analyst
Christopher Lewis is a technical analyst and market commentator at DailyForex with more than two decades of trading experience in Forex and other leveraged markets. Based in Columbus, Ohio, he specializes in chart-based analysis of major currency pairs, stock indices, commodities, and energy markets, focusing on clear support and resistance levels, trend structure, and risk management. Christopher produces daily written and video analysis for traders who rely on technical setups to navigate volatile market conditions

As seen on: Pairs Of Aces Podcast,The Trader Guy, FXEmpire

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