It has been a rough open on Wall Street for U.S. stocks. All three indices are in the red, led by the DJIA (-185), S&P 500 SPX (-20), and the NASDAQ (-70). Bearish participation has been the order of the day, continuing the slide that began Wednesday afternoon.

During the pre-cash open, two U.S. jobs reports came in for late January and early February. Here is a quick look at the data:

Event                                                                Actual     Projected     Previous

Continuing Jobless Claims (Jan. 25)             1.736M          NA              1.782M

Initial Jobless Claims (Feb. 1)                          234K            227K             253K

These numbers are secondary reports but do show that U.S. employment remains strong. The figures are a nice compliment to last week’s Non Farm Payrolls, which also showed strong gains for January.

Wall Street Opens In The Red

It has been an ugly open for the U.S. indices. The NASDAQ is down roughly 1% amid heavy selling. The action has brought a key daily support level into play for March E-mini NASDAQ futures.

In the event today’s opening sell-off gains momentum, here are a few support levels to look out for:

• Support(1): 38% Current Wave Retracement, 6877.50
• Support(2): Bollinger MP, 6756.50
• Support(3): Daily SMA, 6676.25

Bottom Line: At press time, the U.S. indices are trending lower amid heavy selling pressure. For the remainder of the session, I will have buys in the queue from 6878.25 for the March E-mini NASDAQ. With an initial stop at 6869.25, this trade produces 25 ticks on a slightly sub-1:1 risk vs reward management plan.