S&P 500 Is in `Technical Purgatory' After Rally, Evercore Says

(Bloomberg) -- While the S&P 500 may have just rallied back to a record, price patterns at the top make predicting its next move even harder than it usually is, according to Evercore ISI's top chartist.

After jumping as much as 1.2%, the benchmark for U.S. equities ended Monday's session with a 0.8% gain at 2,964. While the late-day pullback was consistent with short-term profit taking after last month's rally, the reversal wasn't big enough to indicate a collapse is imminent, Rich Ross, the firm's head of technical analysis, said in a post-market research note.

“At the same time, the breakout was not the most definitive either, leaving the S&P in a technical purgatory of sorts whereby a slightly more decisive breakout would set the stage for a run at 3,020-40 with measured upside to 3,150,” Ross said. “Conversely a failure at an all-time high would leave us uniquely vulnerable.”

In the meantime, equity bulls are in control in the U.S., Europe and emerging markets and selling pressure remains weak, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Richtmyer in New York at rrichtmyer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Courtney Dentch at cdentch1@bloomberg.net, Chris Nagi

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