EQUITIES: E-Mini S&P Sharply Reverses This Week's Prior Gains

A bear threat in Eurostoxx 50 futures remains present and the contract traded lower Thursday. Price has recently breached 4846.00, the Apr 19 low. The clear break of this level paves the way for an extension towards 4711.10 next, a Fibonacci projection. Note that price has also pierced the 200-dma, reinforcing a bearish theme. Initial firm resistance to watch is 4951.89, the 50-day EMA. S&P E-Minis traded lower between Jul 16 - 25, resulting in a break of the 20- and 50-day EMAs. The breach does highlight a short-term bearish threat - a corrective cycle. Yesterday’s move lower and today’ extension reinforces the short-term bearish theme and this has opened 5370.62, a Fibonacci retracement. Resistance to watch is 5600.75, the Aug 1 high. Clearance of this level would highlight a bullish break and signal the end of the correction.     

• Japan's NIKKEI closed lower by 2216.63 pts or -5.81% at 35909.7 and the TOPIX ended 166.09 pts lower or -6.14% at 2537.6.
• Elsewhere, in China the SHANGHAI closed lower by 27.05 pts or -0.92% at 2905.337 and the HANG SENG ended 359.45 pts lower or -2.08% at 16945.51.
• Across Europe, Germany's DAX trades lower by 185.8 pts or -1.03% at 17897.43, FTSE 100 lower by 22.76 pts or -0.27% at 8259.56, CAC 40 down 31.6 pts or -0.43% at 7338.85 and Euro Stoxx 50 down 52.67 pts or -1.11% at 4713.05.
• Dow Jones mini down 236 pts or -0.58% at 40278, S&P 500 mini down 53.25 pts or -0.97% at 5426.25, NASDAQ mini down 309 pts or -1.62% at 18710.75.