Proper context can start the day with a solid win and make all the difference.

DAILY SCHEDULE First, watch the pre-open Tour recording HERE <<== Then, meet in the chaRTroom here by 9:15 ET for updates and Q&A

Through the prior close... (summary of last Market Wrap) Tuesday night's 13-point dip to 3082.00 suddenly bottomed at Europe's opens and began recovering. A China trade headline soon triggered a surge to 3108.50 that finally resolved up when Wednesday's open launched another upleg to 3117.50. An aggressive Gap-and-Go bias environment usually becomes a Got-Up-and-Went afternoon that only hovers at session extremes through the close. As a corollary, trending attempts are usually reversed back into the range, which happened to Wednesday's late probe up to 3119.50. It collapsed through the final hour to test 3108.50, but still recovered to close at the noon hour's 3111.50 low. Overnight action's new info... (nearby chart is last intraday session and Globex) The last-minute bounce back into Wednesday afternoon's range didn't extend higher, not immediately. It was retraced, and 3108.50 defined support through midnight. Then the recovery resumed, greeting Europe's opens back at Wednesday afternoon's 3119.50 high. Hovering there eventually broke higher to touch this morning's 3124.75 bias-up target where another consolidation has begun. If, then... (notes to accompany the Tour recording) Without afternoon momentum, extending any higher this morning wasn't any likelier without gapping up, and gapping up would be likely to extend higher. The gap up currently indicated is already challenging the bias-up target's resistance, so an alternative bullish scenario would be a pullback that tests yesterday's "lower prior highs" as support before resuming the rally. Regardless, actually reversing down through yesterday's range is unlikely without already beginning by the open, or after chipping away at it intraday. First Trade... (preliminary indications for the Bias parameters) Exiting the open at 9:45 above 3118.50 would be likely at least to trigger the 3117.25 bias-up signal at 10:15. Exiting the open under 3115.50 would be unlikely to trigger bias-up.

And after testing the bias-up target overnight. Last night's rally peaked upon touching this morning's 3124.75 bias-up target. That wouldn't qualify as being rejected, because it wasn't touched intraday. So, no consequences to that. Triggering the 3117.25 bias-up signal would have put the bias-up target into play. But the open slid sharply through it and extended through overnight lows down to 3103.25. The 3109.25 bias-down signal triggered. Cleanly. Recovering the bias-down signal at 10:30 would have invalidated that it had triggered. In fact, 3109.25 was being overlapped at 10:30. But not recovered cleanly, which doesn't qualify as rejecting a cleanly triggered signal. So, the 3100.50 bias-down target is in-play. If left unmet, then it will become "unfinished business." Meanwhile, probing back above the bias-down signal just touched 3112.50, and any higher would be credible for extending more substantially. Otherwise, back under 3108.75 and 3107.25 should resume the decline.

THU afternoon signal (triggered at 1:20 ET) SPX ES Bias-up: above 3118.25 3117.75 ...would target 3125.75 3125.25 Bias-down: under 3106.75 3106.50 ...would target 3100.75 3100.50 Signal status: NO-BIAS . BIAS VIDEOS... INTRO // EXAMPLE 1. At 1:20, trading above the bias-up signal or under the bias-down signal would put into play a test of its bias-up or bias-down target. 2. Not triggering either bias signal at 1:20 would be "no-bias," and the bias signals should define the bias environment's range. -- A test of the opposite bias signal would be targeted if one bias signal was tested before triggering no-bias. 3. Touching the bias signal within 3 minutes either way of 1:20 would invoke a grace period through 1:30 to trigger a late signal. -- "Late" signals don't require testing the opposite bias signal, but it's still likely. 4. Still testing the bias signal at 1:30 after invoking the grace period would trigger "noN-bias," with no bias influence.

Mixed signals. The 3100.50 target of this morning's bias-down became "unfinished business" for being left unmet. No post-10:30 probe under the pre-10:15 low has made the decline more difficult to resume. Reacting up to 3113.75 has only ranged back down to 3108.00, not resolving in either direction. And repeated tests of 3108.00 through the noon hour failed to break lower. Now this afternoon has triggered no-bias. If tested, either 3106.50-3117.75 bias signal should define that end of the window. Probing any further would be "no-bias trending" that requires being retraced. So, testing 3100.50 during the no-bias environment would both neutralize its attraction and also require being recovered. Otherwise, that can be left outstanding for another rally effort once the no-bias environment lapses..

Thursday was a series of bait & switch schemes, that began by rallying overnight to touch the morning's 3124.75 bias-up target. Gapping up would have resumed the prior morning's rally, if not for Thursday's open quickly collapsed on the way down to 3103.00. The morning's 3100.50 bias-down target was left outstanding, another bait & switch. Rallying to the 3117.75 afternoon bias-up signal's resistance was met by a 9-point plunge, triggered by China trade headline. More impressive was its relatively quick and complete retracement up to 3119.50 -- the prior afternoon's high, which held again through Thursday's 3118.00 close. Friday's open will be greeted by the earlier Employment Situation report's reaction. Regardless of the "unfinished business" at 3100.50, gapping up Friday would still be likely to extend higher intraday. Not already gapping up Friday doesn't have much room below, if any, before being likely to at least test 3100.50. And testing 3100.00-3103.00 intraday must hold or recover it through the close to maintain the recovery's potential. Details and other markets coverage are discussed in the post-market Wrap recording here. Monitor overnight Globex trading in the chaRTroom here.

FRI morning signal (triggered at 10:15 ET) SPX ES Bias-up: above 3120.50 3120.25 ...would target 3125.50 3125.25 Bias-down: under 3111.50 3111.25 ...would target 3105.75 3105.50 Signal status: BIAS-UP, BIAS-UP TARGET EXCEEDED . BIAS VIDEOS... INTRO // EXAMPLE 1. At 10:15, trading above the bias-up signal or under the bias-down signal would put into play a test of its bias-up or bias-down target. 2. Not triggering either bias signal at 10:15 would be "no-bias," and the bias signals should define the bias environment's range. -- A test of the opposite bias signal would be targeted if one bias signal was tested before triggering no-bias. 3. Touching the bias signal within 3 minutes either way of 10:15 would invoke a grace period through 10:30 to trigger a late signal. -- "Late" signals don't require testing the opposite bias signal, but it's still likely. 4. Still testing the bias signal at 10:30 after invoking the grace period would trigger "noN-bias," with no bias influence.