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

CHARTROOM LINK (pre-open Market Tour begins at 8:55 ET)

Through the prior close... Rewarding the prior afternoon's upside traction required absorbing Thursday's pre-open dip to 1890.00, and a post-open dip to 1894.00. Recovering back above the prior session's highs still peaked 3 ticks short of touching the 1922.50 overnight highs. The balance of the session narrowed its range into the 1908.00-1910.00 close, paralyzed by anxiousness ahead of the payrolls report. Even probing deeply into negative territory during Thursday afternoon's bias-up environment was recovered back to its bias-up signal. Overnight action's new info... As is often the case ahead of an Employment report, the narrow range persisted, albeit in slightly negative territory. The range did expand at Europe's opens, back up to the prior afternoon's 1914.00 bias-up target. Price has settled back into 1908.00-1910.00. If, then... That was a lot of pessimism Thursday. A lot of ineffectual pessimism. Not so much the morning's attack on overnight highs, which aren't as influential intraday. But the pre-open and post-open dips that were recovered in order to launch that attack. And the afternoon's bias-up downtrend whose timing prevented sellers from gaining traction for the effort. It's potentially bullish from a contrarian perspective, which suggests a positive resolution to this morning's pre-open report. All that having been said, the pessimism that was absorbed yesterday wasn't recovered back above any relevant levels. So, I'll be a little reluctant to buy an initially negative knee-jerk reaction that breaks under yesterday's lows, and a little suspicious of opening strength that isn't recovering above prior highs. First Trade... No preliminary levels are considered prior to an Employment Situation report.

So did buyers. Sellers are exploiting theirs. Yesterday's session was replete with pessimism. Multiple rally attempts to trend down were recovered back into the range. So, that pessimism is ineffectual, not having gained traction for the effort. But the pessimism was never rejected. Dips, once absorbed, never reversed back above a prior high. That was the caveat to today's bullish potential. It was also the caveat to this morning's pre-open surge. At least the payroll reaction's spike down was in-line with yesterday's dips that had recovered. But already recovering it before the open also tracked the pattern of failed bounces. So, testing 1908.00-1910.00 was reversed through the open back down to the 1895.75 pre-open low. And then lower to 1891.00. Bias-down triggered, and although its target was met already, that's now extending to 1885.00. Unless 1890.00 is recovered coming out of the bias environment, the drop's next objective is 1873.75, and potentially a retest of Wednesday's low down to 1962.75.

FRI afternoon signal (triggered at 1:20 ET) SPX ES Bias-up: above 1895.00 1888.50 ...would target  1902.50  1896.00 Bias-down: under  1883.50  1877.00 ...would target  1877.00  1870.50 Signal status: NO-BIAS, TESTED BIAS-DOWN SIGNAL FAQ INTRO VIDEOS #1 and #2 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.

Greeting the weekend from a position of weakness. This morning's slide through the 1886.00 objective came within 1 tick of its 1873.75 objective. Bouncing into the noon hour retested 1886.00 as resistance before reacting down again. The 1877.00 bias-down signal was tested but not triggered. That didn't prevent probing fresh lows, but the "no-bias trending" had to retrace 1877.00. 1877.00 was retraced, but that was at the top of the hour. Rather than wait around for the bias environment to begin lapsing, fresh lows are now testing 1868.50. The next lower objective is a retest of Wednesday's 1865.00 low down to 1862.75. This leg could accomplish that, so long as bounce limits hold. A more reliable downleg would first retest the 1877.00 bias-down signal.

Firming into and out of the close didn't finish until touching 1877.00. This neutralizes the upside attraction back to Friday afternoon's bias-down signal. Selling may resume without hesitation and extend lower without inhibition. Unless Friday's pessimism is corrected or rejected since its sellers gained no traction for their efforts. We'll discuss the bigger picture at this weekend's Saturday Review -- its link will be sent overnight. Details and other markets coverage are discussed in the post-market Wrap recording here.

MON morning signal (triggered at 10:15 ET) SPX ES Bias-up: above  1894.50 1886.00 ...would target  1899.00  1892.50 Bias-down: under  1874.75  1868.25 ...would target 1869.25  1862.75 Signal status: BIAS-DOWN, BIAS-DOWN TARGET EXCEEDED FAQ INTRO VIDEOS #1 and #2 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.