Major US stock indices closed near their peak levels today, almost undoing recent selling. The Dow climbed 585.06 points, or 1.34%, reaching 44,173.64. The S&P index rose 91.93 points, or 1.47%, to 6,329.94. The NASDAQ increased by 403.45 points, or 1.95%, settling at 21,053.58, while the Russell 2000 grew by 45.52 points, or 2.10%, ending at 2,212.30. <\/p>\n
The NASDAQ closed above its 100-hour moving average, a favourable technical sign, with hopes of revisiting last week’s peak. The S&P index ended the day just below its recent closing level from Thursday and narrowly missed surpassing its 100-hour moving average by under $0.40. The direction of the S&P index tomorrow will be of particular interest, whether it can surpass the 100-hour moving average or dips after today’s assessment.<\/p>\n
With the NASDAQ back above its 100-hour moving average, we see a green light for cautious optimism in the tech sector. Traders could consider buying near-term call options on major tech indices like the QQQ, betting that today’s momentum will carry over. The key will be seeing if the index holds this level in the next trading session.<\/p>\n
The S&P 500 presents a more complex picture, closing just shy of its own 100-hour MA. This indecisiveness suggests setting up straddles or strangles could be a viable strategy to profit from a significant move in either direction. A confirmed break above this level would be a strong signal to go long on SPY options or ES futures.<\/p>\n
We believe today’s strong rebound is partly a delayed positive reaction to last Friday’s jobs report. The July Non-Farm Payrolls data, which came in at 195,000, showed a cooling but still healthy labor market. This eases fears of an overly aggressive Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n
This market action is also supported by the latest inflation data from mid-July 2025. The last Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed core inflation dipping to an annual rate of 2.8%, the lowest reading we have seen since late 2023. This trend reinforces the belief that the Fed’s rate hiking cycle is firmly in the past.<\/p>\n
As a result of today’s rally, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) has been crushed, falling over 10% to close near 14.5. With implied volatility now lower, buying options has become cheaper for traders looking to make directional bets. However, the low premium makes selling options strategies, like iron condors, less attractive.<\/p>\n
We saw a similar technical setup in the summer of 2024, when a sharp one-day sell-off was quickly erased and followed by a steady climb to new highs. History suggests that such strong dip-buying activity often precedes further market strength. Traders should watch for increasing volume to confirm this bullish conviction.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Major US stock indices surged, nearing previous peaks; NASDAQ and S&P hovered around key technical levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":16990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}