News of lower than expected jobless claims resulted in a quick pre-market spike then sell-off in SPY today. However, on the open it rallied and proceeded to break through the 95.50 resistance level (peaking at 96.11) in the early afternoon. As the end of the trading session neared, sentiment reversed and SPY sold off hard into the close, finishing at 94.82. This is not the first time SPY has broken its 95.50 resistance intraday and failed to close above.

It is necessary to highlight the importance of this. For a technical trader, there is a huge difference between breaking above a resistance level intraday as opposed to closing above this resistance level. For example, today we leaked above 95.50, hovered above, but then closed below 95.50 SPY (and even 95). This is why on CNBC I recommended tight stops because intraday we were above our resistance level of 95.50 SPY but had not yet closed above there. Where a market closes is most important.

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JToma