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From Reuters:

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso in a meeting on Saturday that it is important to refrain from competitive currency devaluation, according to a statement from the Treasury Department.

Lew, who met Aso earlier on Saturday at a Group of Seven summit in Sendai, northeastern Japan, also underscored the Group of 20 commitment to use all policy tools to promote growth, the statement said.

The problem, of course, is that currency devaluation manipulation is the only tool Aso has left.  And, it is pretty obvious it has no impact, whatsoever, on growth.  It is merely a tool with which to prop up stocks — nothing more.

The USDJPY has broken trend this morning, though not irretrievably.  It’s enough, though, to take the bloom off Friday’s rose.

continued for members…Combined with CL’s drop through the white TL… …it should be enough for SPX to officially break down from the rising purple channel and backtest the purple TL (2044.782), the white H&S neckline (2042.17) or the white channel midline (2039.24.)  Note there’s a gap to fill at 2041.67.

We’ll know it’s happening when ES breaks down through the purple TL connecting this morning’s lows.

Manufacturing PMI is coming up at 9:45 AM.

UPDATE:  9:44 AM

Good place to short, with PMI coming up in a few.Back to the worst it’s been since 2009…

UPDATE:  10:04 AM

CL is spiking, no news that I can find.  It’s thwarting SPX’s effort to break down, or at least delaying it.  UPDATE:  12:03 PM

Though CL is breaking down, USDJPY is threatening to break out.  Meanwhile, SPX has dropped to new lows on the day, and is backtesting its SMA5 10.  So far, so good — but, the delay might have pushed the backtest of the white neckline out till the end of the day, as a backtest to the mangled falling red channel. Will we get another one of those 12:09 reversals in a few?

UPDATE:  3:00 PM

Quick update on the charts for those who are still awake…  I’ve added another target at 2048.90 – horizontal support and roughly the SMA5 200 value at the close.  It could act as an interim target if they’re able to keep everything afloat into the close – with a likely gap lower in the morning.  Sure would be nice if they could just get it over with now. UPDATE:  3:49 PM

So, here’s the rub.  If SPX bounces at our 2049ish target, if could go on up and tag the white channel top in the morning:  2059.35 or so.  If it closes at our target, it could be an interim stop on the way to backtest the neckline at 2042.46.

My gut tells me the latter, though — as always — I’d not leave a short position open overnight unless you can hedge it, watch it closely, and/or handle the risk of a 10-pt ramp job.  If you can, I think we’ll be rewarded in the morning.  If it reaches 2043 by the close, I’d call that close enough.