If we had simply viewed new Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell with his first policy decision later today after 2pm EST coinciding with another Nor’easter despite spring officially underway, it would probably be a tad too dramatic to play it up as a significant market catalyst.
However, the issue for us as traders is that today's FOMC events coincide with several markets at key technical levels, not to mention a dominant Nasdaq leader like Facebook garnering numerous headlines amid a controversy for the name.
First and foremost, it is fairly obviously that the S&P 500 Index must likely hold 2,700 for bulls ($270 on the SPY ETF), or we may very well see recent buyers scramble for the exits as the S&P's strength from two weeks ago would now seem much more like a dreaded bull trap.
Beyond that, we know the mega cap, stodgy Dow names have been lagging for a while now, too, which means the Nasdaq and small caps in the IWM must continue to pick up the slack or the market's overall selling will almost assuredly will accelerate lower.
It is often said that markets love to test new Fed Chairs via some raucous volatility coinciding with initial FOMC and announcements. So, we shall see if this market plans on doing the same to Powell today.
Also note another market which is at an absolutely critical juncture would be gold and her miners.
On the GDX ETF daily chart, below, for senior gold miners, that pesky $21 level is a painfully obvious battleground. Whichever side eventually prevails from this level, be it bears cracking it or bulls using it as a launch pad, should seize full control of the precious metals and mining trend for a good while, given how many times we have tested it in recent weeks, months, now quarters and years.
