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) Labor Day trading on Globex had repeatedly probed 2896.00-2898.00 as low as 2889.00. There was no bullish reason to revisit 2896.00-2898.00 intraday, but its influence only restrained price action instead of sending the session lower. Tuesday's gap down to 2904.00 was actually in the middle of a bounce from 2894.00-2914.00. Collapsing back down to 2891.00 held and defined the session's low,m which narrowed into the afternoon. The final hour's 10-point bounce to 2909.00 was still within the prior range. Overnight action's new info... (nearby chart is last session and Globex) Tuesday's late buy signal was initially retraced to within 2 ticks at 2902.00. A brief consolidation soon surged above Tuesday's highs to 2918.50. A pullback to 2913.00 was done by midnight, and soon surging again to higher highs. The kill zone's entire 2925.25-2933.00 range was probed briefly up to 2936.25. A pullback is now testing 2926.50. If, then... (notes to accompany the Tour recording) PROGRAMMING NOTE: I'M AWAY FROM THE SCREENS FOR TODAY'S LAST TWO HOURS (2-4pm ET)... Fresh lows Tuesday would have targeted last Wednesday's "lower prior highs" at 2886.00-2888.00. Potential for resolving down overnight wasn't the reason not to consider a hold-long -- yesterday afternoon's bounce gained no traction so rallying today required gapping up. Gapping up above relevant levels would be credible for extending intraday back into the 2925.25-2933.00 kill zone. Just opening at Friday's 2921.00-2923.00 close could still cut either way. Extending higher could develop quickly post-open if it were going to develop at all. First Trade... (preliminary indications for the Bias parameters) Exiting the open at 9:45 above 2920.75 would be likely also to extend above the 2918.75 bias-up signal at 10:15 to renew the bias-up signal.

Kill zone gonna kill. Post-open action initially attacked the upper-end of the 2925.25-2933.00 kill zone to within 3 ticks and held 2927.00 as support through the opening 15 minutes. Then the balance of the open collapsed to 2921.50 at 10:15. It's still a bias-up environment, renewed. Both the 2911.00 and 2918.75 bias-up parameters were exceeded through 10:15. Regardless of being bias-up, deeper backing-and-filling has room down to the 2918.75 and 2911.00 bias-up parameters as support without yet signaling a more substantial drop. But as described during the Market Tour, that sort of backing-and-filling at this stage would be more difficult to recover, let alone to resume the rally. Recovering back above 2926.25 (being retested now) is the likelier recovery path, likely to probe fresh post-open highs, if not also overnight highs. Meanwhile, fresh post-open lows would likelier point down into this afternoon's Beige Book. REMINDER: I'M AWAY FROM THE SCREENS FOR TODAY'S LAST TWO HOURS.

WED afternoon signal (triggered at 1:20 ET) SPX ES Bias-up: above 2935.50 2935.50 ...would target 2941.50 2941.50 Bias-down: under 2927.00 2927.00 ...would target 2920.75 2920.75 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.

REMINDER: I'M AWAY FROM THE SCREENS FROM 2:00 ET THROUGH THE CLOSE. The 2:00 ET Beige Book release isn't being greeted from a position of weakness, having ranged narrowly through the noon hour around the kill zone's 2933.00 upper-end. But neither is it a position of strength, which would have triggered this afternoon's 2935.50 bias-up signal. Probing higher before the news would now qualify as "no-bias trending" and require being retraced. But price action nevertheless has been tracking one of the two bullish templates we discussed during the Market Tour. If not screaming higher from the open, then a brief and shallow pullback testing 2925.25 would still keep alive upside momentum. And the pullback reached 2921.50 at 10:15, where price immediately began reversing up. The bullish template also favored entering the noon hour probing fresh post-open highs. The kill zone's 2933.00 upper-end was already being overlapped, and has since been probed up to 2934.50

But the recovery isn't yet invulnerable. Anxiousness ahead of the 2:00 ET Beige Book release should inhibit trending, as usual. Dipping defensively before the news could prove constructive to resuming the rally. A negative reaction could test the Gap-to-Gap retracement at 2915.50-2921.00 -- and would have to break that retracement before extending back to yesterday's afternoon's 2908.00 lower prior highs.