Afternoon Battle Plans

Bears had a chance to really wreak havoc on the market with a thrust lower at about 11am EST this morning. However, buyers stepped in for damage control, and we are grinding through the New York lunch hour as we speak. 

On the intraday chart of the SPY, ETF for the S&P 500 Index, below, we are keying off the $192.50 level as being a significant short-term battleground, due to how sensitive price has been to it since yesterday's gap up. If buyers can continue to defend this level the bounce may very well still be alive for a bit longer than bears would prefer. 

We took a quick short of the Nasdaq this morning on the initial breakdown, but covered it up once buyers made a stand. 

Other than that, the action in the precious metals and miners continues to pique my interest. I will flesh that out for Members in my usual Midday Video.