Early Thursday morning, a tortuous climb presumably devoid of buying other than short-covering by a few nervous Nellies, has gotten within a single point of the 1285.25 rally target flagged here. It is still valid — and still short-able with a 1286.25 stop-loss — although the odds of a quick and easy profit may favor night owls, since pent-up shorts could make quick work of the hidden resistance on an opening gap.  If you’ve made money on the long side of this well anticipated rally, you can widen the stop to two points. ______ UPDATE (10:30 a.m. ET): For whatever reason — sabotage by Goldman Sachs? Boris Putin? Sarah Palin? — the futures have stalled at exactly 1284.50, three ticks from our target. Since a 7-point pullback has ensued, the “No Sloppy Seconds Rule” applies, and I am therefore recommending that you cancel the order.