Some Precise, Bullish Benchmarks for the Dow

Bulls gave back 25% of Thursday’s substantial gains in the final minutes of the session, presumably to preserve some buying power for Friday. A robust surge would hit the 24,887 rally target of the pattern shown, but buyers will have to do a little better than that to leave themselves in good shape for next week. Specifically, they’ll need to surpass the 24,977 ‘external’ peak to remain in command Sunday evening. It lies exactly 494 points above and is crucial to the health of the intraday charts. If the Indoos were to close above the peak ahead of the weekend, that would add to a picture of short-term strength. But you should set a screen alert at 25,449, where an even more important peak was recorded nine days earlier. It is the most significant supply obstacle the Dow will have faced since the initial bounce off early February’s lows.