Since our last analysis of the S&P 500, it has moved between the upper limit of the support area that was formed between late July and September 18, when the S&P 500 December contract spiked up and started the fourth try to break though the resistance level formed by the three mountain top formation of 1 of June and 19 of July. The marked reversed on the 11 of October and traced back to the upper limit of the support area where it bounced back until it hit it again beginning of this week.

The Feeder Cattle contract has been gaining in prices this year, until it topped last September, when the November contract reached 119.675 cents. Since then the price has been decreasing in a steady manner until it reached 108.5 cents on Friday last, a price difference yielding 5,425 USD per contract, loss for those who are long, but profiting those short.

The Cbot Wheat has been showing dramatic price increases since December 2005, with the prices rocketing from April this year. But now there are signs that the prices have hit the top and an actual short opportunity has emerged with a head and shoulder formation materialising in the last two weeks.

In November 2001 the price of Copper began to rise, followed by an explosion of the prices in the middle of 2005, culminating in an all time high, in may 2006. Since then Copper has been stopped at a resistance level with a temporary pull back in late 2006 and early 2007. But for the last six months or so, the prices have been trying to break through the resistance levels set by the early 2006 price tops. This high is the all time high of the Copper futures contract and therefore an uncharted area.

After the pullback following the three top attempt in June and July, the S&P 500 made another go at it. A fierce attack by the bulls in the week before last was halted on the Monday, 15th of October last week, when the Friday’s candle was almost completely engulfed by the Monday’s candle body. This strong engulfing pattern showed that there was a possibility of a pullback, a pullback that materialised during the week.

Just after the publication of the article about Oil on the 20th of September, I was asked to name the price Oil would hit in the near future. As a general rule, I don’t name prices as something fixed and unchangeable. It’s impossible for a normal human being to know where prices will go on a certain date. A person can estimate or expect the price to move to some level, but that can never be held as an unchangeable fact. I therefore answered the question, that I believed the Oil would most likely hit 88 quite soon.

Yesterday was a good day for the market. The S&P 500 managed to break through an important resistance that has been halting the market the last days now. This resistance was important as it held back a recovery after the pullback following the three mountain tops that have formed at the major resistance of the last few months. This resistance is the top of the internet bubble and therefore a HUGE resistance to overcome.

Gold prices have been going up since April 2001, when the price was around 255 an Ounce. In September 2005, the price began to rise at a increasing speed after having been rather stable from the beginning of the year. This stable period looked as a resting period, after the prices had risen steadily from 2001. In May 2006 the price of Gold topped after a big spike on the monthly charts, followed by a considerable retracement of the prices.

The stock market has been going through difficult times the last few weeks and the average investor is concerned. Nobody wants to loose money on their investment, but due to the nature of the stock market, money gained in a bull market is money lost in a bear market.

The S&P 500 index has been used as a measurer on US economy, for a reason. The diversification of the index has made it ideal for a broad statistical evaluation of the US market. The last weeks have been difficult for the US market, and the world as a whole. The US sub prime crises have had an impact way outside of the US borders, as European and Asian banks have scrambled to get rid of derivatives based on US sub prime loans. The market analysts have, by now, started to smile and believe the market to be in a recovering phase. Some don’t agree and say more to come.