Stock indexes fall but cut early losses
The major equity indexes closed Friday in the red but were well above their session lows.
The S&P 500 finished the day down 13.54 points to 1430.15. The SPX gave up 0.94 percent but only after cutting losses that had brought the index below 1423, and it was still up on the week. The SPX closed right at its 10-day moving average and still has support at 1414, with resistance now at 1448.
The Nasdaq 100 gave up 1.07 percent to close at 2664.67 after hitting a low of 2640 right after the open. It opened below but closed right around the 10- and 20-day moving averages. Resistance remains at 2700 and support at 2620.
The Russell 2000 was down just 0.54 percent to end the week at 847.92, still well above its 10- and 20-day moving averages. The small-cap index has support and resistance at 820 and 860 respectively.
The CBOE Volatility Index hit a high of 19.93 right after the opening bell but slid from there and finished at 17.84, up 0.96 percent. Much of the dampening comes from the fact that the VIX shows relative weakness ahead of weekends and holidays because of the time decay priced into the SPX options.
The VIX futures were stronger then the spot volatility index, with January contracts up 0.70 points, or 4 percent, to 18.20. The February futures were up 0.40 points to 18.55.
The VIX spent most of the morning above both of those futures and will likely be back there next week.
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