Still Backed Into a Corner

Despite the appearance of a Santa Claus Rally breakout in the market earlier this week, not much has changed in our ongoing visual motif of the Russell 2000 Index's ETF (IWM) chart for the month of December. 

On the updated hourly chart of the IWM, below, note the lower highs still asserting themselves, while higher lows have blunted breakdown attempts for now. Going forward, we are keying off the $113 level, just below, to see whether bulls can now hold the line to maintain support. 

Elsewhere, we have a low volume final session sell-off playing out for this calendar year, with most traders likely away from their desks. An intraday bounce now would not surprise me. But I am not seeing many compelling long setups at the moment. And the persistent AAPL weakness remains a concern, despite FANG strength of late.