Morning Market Notes 07-16-26

Market Calendar

$SPX & $QQQ

VIX bid up almost 5% into the mid 16s. Yesterday's tape looked fine on the surface, but the chip complex was getting sold into strength all session, and that de-risking is spreading this morning.

The setup is simple: both indices are pressing their floors. SPX is sitting right on the 7550 Put Wall, hold it and dealers lean buyers into the dip, lose it and the hedging flow does the selling for you. Busy macro morning too. Retail sales, claims, and Philly Fed already hit at 8:30, pending home sales at 10, then Logan at 12:30 and Jefferson at 7 tonight for the Fed mic time.

Let's have a sesh.

This old Soldier is at $82K and counting

You read the morning analysis. Blu reads the same notes, then he watches the real-time flow confirm the setups and stacks payouts toward a $100K month. That's the difference between reading about the move and being in it.