U. S. consumers keep on shopping.  For August Retail Sales ex-auto rose 0.3% vs. 0.3% consensus.

Gold is falling after release of the retail sales data.

Yesterday afternoon the momo crowd switched from buying gold to buying gold stocks.  Early indications are that Smart Money aggressively shorted and gold stocks’ strength.

Oil is experiencing a dead cat bounce.

Our very, very short-term early market indicators are neutral.

Gold futures are at $1235, silver futures are at $18.58, and oil futures are $93.03.

S&P 500 resistance levels are 2000 and 2017; support levels are 1975, 1950, and 1925.

DJIA futures are down 13 points.

Dollar hits six-year high against yen and is strengthening against most currencies.  As a full disclosure, ZYX Global Multi Asset Allocation Alert has a short position in yen against dollar using an inverse ETF.

Paradoxically this illustrates how conventional thinking can be so wrong; the reason for a run-up on gold and silver was that the Fed was printing money and it was anticipated that it would debase the dollar. Instead, the dollar has strengthened and gold has fallen.  This also illustrates why we at The Arora Report work so hard to leave our opinions at the door every morning and start fresh with a neutral posture, letting the hard data shape the calls.

Our very, very short-term early market indicators are calling for a weakness in stocks, gold and oil, and some possible strength in bonds.

Gold futures are at $1243, silver futures are at $18.75, and oil futures are $90.81.

S&P 500 resistance levels are 2000 and 2017; support levels are 1975, 1950, and 1925.

DJIA futures are down 77 points.

About 300 years ago, English and Scottish crowns combined leading to the present day United Kingdom.  Opinion polls are showing that referendum for Scotland to become an independent country may pass.  This is causing severe nervousness in financial markets.  Sterling is being crushed, and so are the shares of companies with large operations in Scotland.  The fear is that if Scotland succeeds, independence fever will spread to other regions.

Our very, very short-term early indicators for stocks are at neutral with a negative bias.

Oil is falling.

Interest rates are rising.

Gold has given up short covering gains from late yesterday afternoon.

Gold futures are at $1250, silver futures are at $18.95, and oil futures are $92.38.

S&P 500 resistance levels are 2000 and 2017; support levels are 1975, 1950, and 1925.

DJIA futures are down 17 points.

Apple is the largest public company by market capitalization in the world.  It has very heavy weight in indexes  such as S&P 500 and  Nasdaq 100.  Apple will announce its news products at 1:00 pm ET.  Expectations are running extremely high.  Stock market will be affected if Apple disappoints, or hits it out of the ball park.

Interest rates are inching up.

Oil and gold are range bound.

Gold futures are at $1255, silver futures are at $18.94, and oil futures are $93.53.

S&P 500 resistance level is 2017; support levels are 1975, 1950, and 1925.

DJIA futures are down 29 points.

For the first time in recent memory Brent crude falls under $100 on concerns about global growth.  Interestingly, stock market continues to march up because market participants believe in global growth.  Only time will tell who is right — oil or stocks.

Our very, very short term indicator for stocks is neutral.

Gold futures are at $1265, silver futures are at $19.21, and oil futures are $92.25.

S&P 500 resistance level  is 2017; support levels are 1975, 1950, and 1925.

DJIA futures are up/down 19 points.