Over the last 12 years, the week of January opex hasn’t fared well for bulls with 2001 being the exception. With the market closed Monday, $AAPL releases news that Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence for health reasons. Both sentiment and seasonality are screaming for a pullback in equities but judging by the futures this morning the dollar will need to cooperate. The weekly price targets are very narrow, as would be expected from the recent price action, and could keep the market within a defined range this week. Lots going on and I’ll be honest that a pullback here for one or two days would be welcomed by me and my $SPX premium selling strategy.

The 60-day, 60-minute trend (standard deviation) continues to show strength. 127.95 is the midpoint. The standard deviation channel is dynamic, but is a great indicator on many time-frames. It’s been the end of November the last time the market moved to one of the outside channels so I’ll continue to use that midpoint as a reference. About the only thing I know for sure this week is that the January options will expire. Beyond that, I’m prepared with plans of action for both directions and look forward to watching the weekly events unfold.