Friday -- What 12,249 Contracts Look Like

ES Futures:
Hovering...seems to be a theme thus far today.

News:
Today's news is secondary to how ES was hoisted above a key level yesterday so headlines could scream "record close."

To see what it took to keep the dream alive, keep reading.

Other news is that May's Empire Manufacturing results missed for the 4th time in a row, back to levels last seen in January 2008.

FX:
Misinformative Reuters headline -- "futures rise as dollar weakens" -- as USD was up over .5% on the day after having bounced from the 93.16 Fib target, just three ticks off from a perfect hit.

Treasuries:
Bounces continue across the price spectrum, but the patterns continue to look ominous.

Energy:
WTI crude is spending a little too much time doing some hovering of its own around the 23.6% Fib level, and is beginning to appear ominous as well.

NG already appears to be tracing out a wedge, which, this close from the "bottom" is rather odd, usually being a more late stage pattern.

Metals:
Gold hovering too, above 1200. 1217 last.

S&P Outlook:
It was worth $1,299,006,450 to someone, or some entity -- probably the Fed (from their new "operations center" in Chicago) -- to get the S&P 500 to close above 2120.95 yesterday.

How does one accomplish this? Simple. Press the futures buy button hard.

The market was having a bit of trouble with the target level, reversing from 2120.94 at 3:17pm EST for what was then probably a terrifying period of time for some. A rally ensued but began to reverse again -- at 3:59pm! -- when someone or something stepped in and said that's enough.

This is what 12,249 ES contracts -- with a notional value of just under $1.3 billion -- look like on a 1-second chart. No one sells after a trade that big crosses the tape.

I prefer to see marathoners cross the line on their own two feet, not pushed in a wheelchair.

Regardless, the S&P closed above 2120.95.

The highs are next. So are two Fib confluence levels above that are very tight: 2132.50, 2135.33, 2135.88 and 2148.70, 2149.35, and 2149.55.

The way the market has been acting of late, I've been considering that it may still be in wave three of the rising wedge with four and five still to come. If correct, it could take us into the all-important September/October timeframe.

A/D closed quite respectable yesterday (2.95-1) but did not break out. Volume was muted, however, and ticks, while showing earlier strength, did not close well, another tell tale that the large futures trade likely did the heavy lifting.