With no real acceptance above the prior close and less than a five point range through the first three periods, and leaving a poor A/B period high, the market broke lower in D period Thursday following the delayed release of the crude oil inventory report, testing Wednesday’s low at 2256.

But with no acceptance below the previous day’s low in E/F periods, and no direction from bigger players, the market grinded back towards the open, one timeframing higher for the reminder of the session and short covering back to the high into the close. The session ended with the poor at 2265.25 unrepaired.

The First Non Farm Payroll Announcement of the Year on Friday could provide a clue as to what direction the market wants to go first, higher to new all time highs or lower to repair poor structure in the profiles?

As mentioned in our previous post, there is poor market structure both above and below the current market – multiple matching highs on the daily chart and a poor low from January 3rd’s market profile chart. There also remains the unrepaired poor structure from the December 7th elongated profile.