Will it close above the 100 day MA? Does it matter?
The S&P has been supported today by a good round of earnings on Monday and early today (GS, Netflix in particular). That has the S&P index up about 0.78% on the day and also has the price back above the 100 day MA (comes in today at 2141.74).
Normally that would be a bullish development - and I guess it is. The low on this move also stalled near the 38.2% retracement and did not trigger more selling momentum. That is also supportive of the market in general - and bullish (the market corrected but it corrected to a support area).
However, what tempers the enthusiasm is we are at the beginning of the earning calendar, and the final presidential debate is tomorrow. So you never really know what may cause the winds to change. You kinda see that in the recent activity in the daily chart below of the S&P below.
Today after the close, Intel, and Yahoo are the big names reporting earnings. Amex, Ebay and Morgan Stanley will release tomorrow. Later in the week, Microsoft, Paypay, Verizon, Honeywell, GE and McDonalds will all release as well.
In addition to earnings, the Bank of Canada (on Wednesday) and ECB (on Thursday) will perhaps tilt some markets one way or another.
Then there is China. China is scheduled to release 3Q GDP at 10 PM ET today in US/0200 GMT on Wednesday. The expectation is for a 6.7% growth in the 3Q. Trump will be sure to trumpet that statistic in the presidential debate. Retail sales (+10.7% YoY vs +10.6% last) and industrial production will also be released (+6.4% YoY vs +6.3% YoY last).
With all that to come, the stock markets will have a lot to sift through and that makes technical tools - like the 100 day MA - more of a barometer of bullish/bearish for a day/for a trade. But understand, the potential exists for some added volatility from the risk events ahead.