Docked at This Level

Opening weakness in equites has largely abated through mid-morning, as bulls defended the 20-day simple moving averages across the major index charts. 

On the QQQ, below, for example, the ETF of the Nasdaq-100 stocks shows a reversal to green off a red open right at the orange line, which is the 20-day moving average.

It is unlikely that bears will make much headway lower with stocks at-large, unless and until they crack those 20-day moving averages on the indices.

The other scenario is that we are knocking out some type of short-term trading range. But we would need a bit more price information than this into next week to look for more rangebound strategies.

Retail is lagging off the JWN miss, and TRN and GBX are getting pounded in the sub-sector of rails. 

The persistent strength in the Japanese Yen and Treasuries also tempers enthusiasm for the bounce in stocks. Still, as long as those 20-day moving averages hold, bulls can claim a short-term victory this week.