Is the SP500 ready for next move down?

The major American Indices have begun the last month of the year with in an extremely bearish state as recessionary fears rise to the surface again. With the positive sentiment relating to a potential pivot from the federal reserve seemingly disappearing, thoughts of a hard landing have become increasingly prominent. Even with an expected slowdown in interest rate hikes many analysts fear that it won’t be enough to pull the economy out of a recession or even a soft landing.

Technical Analysis

The S&P500 has seen a major pivot off its long term down trend. The index has fallen by nearly 4.5% too begin the month and is showing a very similar price action to the three last downward moves. In addition, the 200-day moving average has once again acted as significant resistance for the index as it tried to reverse out of the down trend. The RSI has also seen a break of its upward trend adding to the confirmation of the overall breakdown as buying has become exhausted. Moving forward, there is likely to be some potential support in the short term near 3900. However, if this support fails then the secondary target or support levels is a 3800 and then 3504 after that. Therefore, there is potentially a large swing to the downside if the sentiment becomes worse and selling continues.

The NASDAQ in particular has been following a similar trend to the S&P500 whilst the Dow Jones Index has been the more resilient of the US Indices. However, both of them have also felt the selling pressure from the S&P500 and the negative sentiment trickle down. The NASDAQ in particular has faced a difficult time as the growth and technology sectors are smashed with the recessionary talk and inflationary pressures.

With the end of the year fast approaching, the prospect of a Santa rally looks less promising with the sentiment in the market at the moment.