Charting a bullish holding pattern, S&P 500 maintains 20-day average MarketWatch 1/19/2021 THE TECHNICAL INDICATOR Technically speaking, the major U.S. benchmarks have asserted a holding pattern, digesting a sharp early-month rally to record territory. Recent range-bound price action signals still muted selling pressure — in the wake of statistically unusual technical breakouts — preserving a comfortably bullish intermediate-term bias. Before detailing the U.S. markets’ wider view, the S&P 500’s hourly chart highlights the past two weeks. As illustrated, the S&P has staged an orderly pullback from the range top. The downturn has been underpinned by near-term support (3,764) as well as the 20-day moving average, currently 3,750. Last week’s low (3,749) closely matched the 20-day.