S&P and NQ Hold Firm Near Friday Highs Ahead of CPI

E-mini S&P (September) / E-mini NQ (September)

S&P, last week’s close: Settled at 6413.50, up 47.00 on Friday and 149.00 on the week

NQ, last week’s close: Settled at 23,713.75, up 217.50 on Friday and 830.00 on the week

E-mini S&P and E-mini NQ futures capped off a strong week Friday, led by a resurgence in AAPL, which gained 4.24% on Friday and 13.3% on the week after news of an additional $100 billion invested in U.S. manufacturing. The tech trade, anchored by AI, certainly led the rebound from the Nonfarm Payroll pullback; GOOG +6.4%, PLTR +21.9%, and MU +13.4%, while NVDA and AVGO each added more than 5%. Overnight price action remains buoyant despite reports that NVDA agreed to pay the U.S. Government 15% of its revenue from sales to China. Furthermore, China’s state media said on Sunday that NVDA’s H20 chips pose security concerns. Although one would imagine this pours cold water over last week’s strength, there have been few signs overnight, as price action has even held the post-bell melt higher late Friday. Today’s tape will take us into tomorrow’s July CPI report.

E-mini S&P and E-mini NQ futures have held at the upper-end of Friday’s range, probing our next area of major three-star resistance at 6422.75-6427.50 and 23,752. Friday’s settlement aligns to create our Pivot and point of balance at 6413.50-6414.50 in the E-mini S&P and 23,671-23,713 in the E-mini NQ; the bulls are in the driver’s seat while out above here. Friday’s strong open has left a gap from Thursday’s settlement, and this will be seen as unfinished business as the week gets underway. For now, we will view our first support in the E-mini S&P as helping to define the immediacy of the rally, a major three-star level at…