Three weeks of relentless head-butting have failed to punch past the midpoint pivot resistance at 1887.00 shown in the chart.  My gut feeling is that bulls will eventually succeed — with crucial help, as always, from  panicky short-covering. In the meantime, however, the futures may have to go lower first to get the running room they need to accomplish this modest feat. Whatever the case, a two-day close above the pivot would signal their readiness, and traders should regard such an occurrence as a low-risk buying opportunity.  Upside potential would be to 1970.50, the ‘D’ target shown.  That would equate to a Dow rally of about 800 points from current levels — still a tad shy of the 17622 bull-market target we’ve been using for quite a while.