The main U.S. stock market indexes lost between 0.1% and 0.3% on Thursday, as investors remained uncertain ahead of today’s FOMC Rate Decision announcement. The S&P 500 index is around twenty points below the important level of 1,800. On the other hand, the nearest support remains at 1,770-1,775. The market is in a consolidation following last week’s decline. For now, it looks like a flat correction within the recent downtrend, as we can see on the daily chart:

Expectations before the opening of today’s session are positive, with index futures currently gaining 0.3-0.4%. The European stock market indexes have gained 0.4-0.7% so far. Investors will now wait for some economic data announcements: Housing Starts and Building Permits at 8:30 a.m. The main event of the day will be of course the FOMC’s announcement at 2:00 p.m. The S&P 500 futures contract (CFD) continues to trade in a relatively narrow range. The support is at 1,750-1,755, and the nearest resistance is at 1,780-1,785, marked by a potential reversed head and shoulders pattern, as the 15-minute chart shows:

Our intraday outlook remains neutral, and our short-term outlook is neutral:

Intraday (next 24 hours) outlook: neutral
Short-term (next 1-2 weeks) outlook: neutral
Medium-term (next 1-3 months) outlook: neutral
Long-term outlook (next year): bullish

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Thank you,
Paul Rejczak