Friday’s abortive rally died five points shy of the 2919.50 threshold where I’d said bears might have to dive for cover. The subsequent relapse to 2873.25 was partially recouped ahead of the closing bell, but the effort was unconvincing and has left a bearish cloud over the rally as the new week begins. Use the 2924.00 peak shown (see inset) to warn if the buying is turning serious, but otherwise look for more slippage to at least 2857.00 (60-min, a=2944.75 on 10/3).  Here’s a longer-term chart that shows why we shouldn’t be too surprised if the weakness we’ve seen over the last two weeks gets legs. ______UPDATE (Oct 9, 7:17 p.m.): Bears looked so feeble Tuesday trying to push this gas-bag down to the 2857.00 target flagged above that we can only infer they will be ready to capitulate when trading resumes on Wednesday.  Once above 2917.75, the rally would take flight. Regardless, you can bottom-fish with a 2857.25 bid and a stop-loss as tight as you can abide.______ UPDATE (Oct 10, 10:35 a.m.): Ray-rah, bears!! They are putting on a surprisingly good show this morning.  The futures have been down as much as 37 points and look like they are in for even worse.