21-DMA Key Short-Term Support For E-Minis? Equities Struggle In Asia

The 3 major U.S. e-mini contracts are lower than settlement levels, but off of worst levels. Once again tech has been the underperformer, with the NASDAQ 100 being the only of the 3 major contracts to break below its Thursday low in Asia-Pac trade.

• A reminder that there was no overt trigger for the sharp shunt lower in U.S. equity markets on Thursday, but the overbought technical conditions, coupled with retail trading hoards and volatility market linkages were all touted. The truth is it was likely a mixture of all 3, in addition to some other, less traditional factors. There were some negative headlines for some of the tech giants later in the session, but the move had already happened by then. For some context, the S&P 500 cash index has only moved back to levels seen last week, while the cash NASDAQ 100 is still up over 70% from its March trough.
• Just worth noting that the early Asia-Pac sell-off in the e-mini S&P 500 contract was limited by the 21-DMA, which hasn't been breached since early July, despite several tests. The DJIA e-mini has also seen support kick in around its own 21-DMA during the last couple of sessions, although it has been breached on a more frequent occasion over the last couple of months when compared to the S&P 500 contract. The NASDAQ 100 contract also failed to break below its 21-DMA, as well as an uptrend support line from the March lows (11,582 today).
• Asia-Pac equities are lower, with tech struggling there, as you would expect. The Nikkei 225 has been the cleanest of a dirty pile, likely still cushioned by Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga's status as frontrunner in the race to succeed Abe as PM.
• Nikkei 225 -1.0%, Hang Seng -1.9%, CSI 300 -1.6%, ASX 200 -3.0%.
• S&P 500 futures -21, DJIA futures -106, NASDAQ 100 futures -178.