Early volatility again and a wide range was the order for Thursday while traders await the jobs report due out early Friday morning.

Nonfarm payrolls are expected to rise 188,00 in January, in what would be a healthy reading that, however, would be far lower than December’s outsized 292,000 surge. Jobless claims moved higher in January which points to less strength for the employment report where, however, the unemployment rate is expected to hold at a very healthy 5 percent. Wage readings in this report have been soft but are expected to show life with forecasters calling for a 0.3 percent gain for average hourly earnings that would follow no change in December. Nasdaq.com

Thursday left a poor high with only one tick of excess at 1921.25 and a prominent point of control at 1905.67, with value trading higher from Wednesday. Both suggest revisiting. In addition there remains a wide naked point of control from Tuesday at 1982.25, which could be the level that decides whether or not the intermediate term trend remains down. Expect high volatility after release of the jobs data.

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