I don’t pay much attention to head-and-shoulders patterns because they are everywhere one wants to see them. Even so, at the intuitive level, the inverted h&s shown in the accompanying chart looks more like accumulation than distribution. Under the circumstances, it seems very likely that the futures will soon ascend to new record highs, even if few of my fellow forecasters seem eager to go out on a limb with a specific prediction.  The weekly chart suggests 1945.00 is possible, but the March contract would first need to blow past the 1838.50 ‘midpoint pivot’ associated with that target.

A problem with this scenario is that a move to 1945 would not get the Dow to an analogous target at 17622 that I disseminated here earlier. There’s always the possibility that the Dow will lead the S&Ps on the next surge, but it has been such a laggard so far — lacking, as it does, the whack-o high-flyers of the Nasdaq — that this seems unlikely. All things considered, I’ll put more weight on the S&Ps than the Dow, with tracking guidance henceforth based on the 1945 objective. To further clarify: Odds of a rally to that number will shorten if buyers leave the 1838.50 ‘midpoint’ choking on dust within the next several days.