FED: Chair Powell Begins January FOMC Press Conference

• RES 4: 160.00 Round number resistance   
• RES 3: 159.45 High Jul 12
• RES 2: 159.26 0.618 proj of the Sep 16 - Nov 15 - Dec 3 price swing  
• RES 1: 158.08 High Dec 26 
• PRICE: 157.06 @ 16:10 GMT Dec 30
• SUP 1: 155.89/155.01 High Nov 20 / 20-day EMA
• SUP 2: 153.11/150.90 50-day EMA / Low Dec 10  
• SUP 3: 149.37 Low Dec 06 
• SUP 4: 148.65 Low Dec 03 and the bear trigger

Prices slipped Monday, but an over-arching bullish condition remains. The breach of 156.75, the Nov 15 high and a bull trigger, confirmed a resumption of the uptrend and has paved the way for a move towards 159.45, the Jul 12 high. Moving average studies are in a bull-mode position highlighting a clear dominant uptrend. Initial firm support is 155.01, the 20-day EMA. A pullback would be considered corrective.     

• Stocks remain weaker but are trading well off early session lows in late Monday trade - stocks have been gradually paring losses since this mornings better than expected pending home sales (2.2% vs. 0.8% est) and Dallas Fed Mfg (3.4 vs. -3.0 est) data.
• Currently, the DJIA trades down 337.49 points (-0.79%) at 42655.64, S&P E-Minis down 54 points (-0.9%) at 5973, Nasdaq down 165.6 points (-0.8%) at 19557.58.
• Consumer Discretionary and Materials sectors continued to underperform in late trade, auto-related shares weighing on the former: Tractor Supply -2.79%, Tesla -1.98%, LKQ Inc -1.79% and O'Reilly Automotive -1.48%. Metals and mining shares weighed on the Materials sector: Albemarle -2.10%, Newmont Corp and Freeport-McMoRan both -1.5%, FMC Corp -1.49%.
• On the positive side, the Energy sector continued to outperform while Information Technology sector shares gained momentum. Oil $ gas stocks buoyed the Energy sector as crude prices inched higher (WTI +0.33 at 70.95): EQT Corp +5.05%, Coterra Energy +4.22%, Devon Energy +2.76%.
• Meanwhile, semiconductor stocks buoyed the IT sector with Nvidia +1.68%, VeriSign +0.51% while Autodesk and Adobe both gained 0.05%.
• Reminder, the next round of quarterly earnings kicks off mid-January with Blackrock, Bank of NY Melon, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, US Bancorp, M&T Bank and PNC all reporting between January 13-16.

• Lower US yields initially contributed to a lower greenback on Monday, with the likes of EURUSD and GBPUSD trading with a strong bid across the European morning. However, sharp weakness for equities abruptly altered the sentiment in currency markets, with the dollar paring losses and the Japanese yen then notably outperforming.
• This was best evidenced by the significant weakness for EURJPY (-0.80%), which fell around 200 pips from session highs to print a low of 162.82. Initial firm support for the cross lies at 162.34, the 20-day EMA and for now, the pullback is considered technically corrective with potential month/year end flow dynamics potentially contributing.
• For EURUSD, a session low of 1.0372 keeps bearish conditions firmly in play. The trend condition continues to highlight scope for a test of key support at 1.0335, the Nov 22 low and a bear trigger.
• The Swiss Franc was less interested by today’s moves across equity/bond markets, and notably USDCHF rose to fresh post-election highs of 0.9074, also representing the highest level for the pair since May. Above here, the year’s best level at 0.9224 remains the most obvious target should the trend continue.
• In emerging markets, USDMXN stands out having risen 1.5% to trade at a one-month high. Resistance to watch remains at 20.8313, the Nov 26 high, and a breach of this hurdle would confirm a resumption of the uptrend. In contrast, the Brazilian real trades higher on the session, with the central bank stepping in once more, auctioning 1.8 billion in the spot market to curtail the BRL weakness.