US stocks in search of fresh catalyst to push higher

Major US equity indices witnessed a lackluster opening at the start of a new trading week amid growing uncertainty around the US President Donald Trump's fiscal plans.

Moreover, geopolitical tension between the US and Iran also weighed on investor sentiment and the prevalent risk-aversion mood is driving flows away from riskier-assets - like equities.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened in negative territory but managed to quickly recover the lost ground and now moved into positive territory, adding 4-points from Friday’s closing level to currently trade around 20,075. Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 Index was down around 3-points to 2,294 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index slipped over 5-points to 5,661.

With Friday's stronger-than-expected headline NFP print and news that the Trump administration would roll back Dodd-Frank regulations already priced-in, lack of any fresh driver on Monday has failed to push the markets higher.

Technical outlook

Carol Harmer, Founder at charmertradingacademy.com notes, "Now we need to watch S&P because we are approaching a double stop scenario at 2299...but I will be leaving quite short stops on it and I will not hold past 2305….If we do past 2305 there is scope to trade higher and we would then be looking at 2325 which is the first 23.6 fib extension…"

She further writes, "Now I believe that we hold between 2295 and 2299 there is going to be a great correction an this will extend down to 2274 initially...with greater potential for 2261/57 where we have an intersecting trendline….”