LIVE MARKETS-S&P 500 pretty washed out, but chart hurdles tough to clear

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

S&P 500 PRETTY WASHED OUT, BUT CHART HURDLES TOUGH TO CLEAR

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 index .SPX ended down 18.95% from its record closing high. With this, one measure of internal strength, the percentage of S&P 500 stocks above their 50-day moving average (DMA), fell to its lowest level since just prior to the end of the 2022 bear market.

The percentage of SPX stocks above their 50-DMA ended at 5.2% on Tuesday, or its lowest levels since a 3.6% reading on September 30, 2022:

Thus, with the S&P 500 potentially washed out to the downside, Trump's tariff reversal on Wednesday sparked quite a rally.

In fact, the SPX jumped 9.51% for its largest one-day surge since October 2008, while the tech-laden Nasdaq .IXIC vaulted 12.16% for its biggest single-session gain since January 2001 and the second largest in the history of the index.

With this, the internal measure jumped to 14.5%.

However, of note, Wednesday's S&P 500 rally stopped just shy of a number of important chart hurdles:

In late afternoon trade on Wednesday, the SPX stalled at 5,481.34.

Traders were watching resistance at the March 31 and March 13 intraday lows at 5,488.73 and 5,504.65, as well as the 76.4% and 78.6% Fibonacci retracements of the sharp April 2 - April 7 down leg at 5,492.29 and 5,511.21.

The concern is that SPX strength that exhausts shy of these hurdles could still be counter-trend, prior to renewed weakness and fresh lows.

So far on Thursday, amid still elevated volatility .VIX, the SPX is pulling back more than 4%. This may just be digestion of Wednesday's spectacular thrust. However, bulls will want to see the SPX ultimately stabilize and rally above the resistance to add credence to this week's low, which was just above some important support levels, being the floor for the recent decline.

(Terence Gabriel)

FOR THURSDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

CUT THE TARIFF NOISE; US CONSUMERS STILL SPENDING - CLICK HERE

COOL CPI, LOW JOBLESS CLAIMS LOST IN THE FOG OF ONGOING TRADE WARS - CLICK HERE

WALL STREET REVERSES AFTER MASSIVE TARIFF-PAUSE RALLY - CLICK HERE

U.S. STOCK FUTURES STILL RED AFTER COOLER-THAN-EXPECTED CPI - CLICK HERE

EARNINGS SEASON "MARKET'S MOMENT OF TRUTH" - SAXO - CLICK HERE

WILL THE "BUY EUROPE" TRADE RAISE ITS HEAD? - CLICK HERE

MARKET WATCHERS MULL RALLY'S LONGEVITY - CLICK HERE

EUPHORIC MARKETS - CLICK HERE

BEFORE THE BELL: BOUNCING LIKE IN COVID TIMES - CLICK HERE

SIGNS OF TROUBLE IN THE RELIEF RALLY - CLICK HERE