ES Futures have opened 2019 on the front foot, with a positive start in early Asian trading.

The ES is currently up 12 points or 0.50% in the first hour of trading.

It has been a rough year for the overall market with the S&P 500 seeing some of the biggest falls since 2008.

2018 saw the end of the low period of market volatility that we’ve had, virtually since the end of the GFC. And there is likely to be more to come in the early stages of 2019.

The outlook for the year ahead is certainly still cloudy, with concerns around the overall levels of economic growth and the ongoing trade wars with China.

US President Trump was quietly confident in recent days about the prospect of a deal with China, but clearly, the market is still skeptical.

Despite the shortened week, we still have a number of top-tier data releases out of the US, with the main focus being employment data on Friday.

The lack of liquidity at the moment, will also likely keep volatility elevated until traders return for the most part on Monday.

Technical Outlook

The SPX has cracked 2500 support and sold off through 2400. Since that point, we have seen a bit of a rebound as stocks have bounced.

We are now forced to wait and see if we can, in fact, hold 2500. If resistance is strong and the selling continues we most certainly have the potential to retest the lows.