Pre-Market Brief — April 2, 2026
SPY and QQQ bounce above the 20-week EMA on Iran de-escalation hopes — but the weekly structure stays bearish. The retest is live. Here's the plan.
James Whitfield
Markets Desk Editor · Blue Ocean Trading Solutions
Published 5:45 AM PT | April 2, 2026 | Pre-Market Brief
Overnight Futures
The Iran de-escalation trade lifted equities hard Tuesday-Wednesday, but Trump's prime-time address Wednesday night — confirming U.S. forces would stay in the region — has energy stocks jumping 3–4% pre-market while the broader relief bid stalls. The structural issue hasn't changed: SPY's March 27 weekly close ($634.09) broke below the 20-week EMA at $640.40, flipping the structural bias to bearish. QQQ did the same ($562.58 vs. $573.45 EMA). The Tuesday-Wednesday bounce carried both indices back above those levels on the daily chart — which is exactly where they become setups. DIA ($465.48) and IWM ($249.56) retain bullish weekly structure above their respective 20-week EMAs ($449.72 and $228.67), making small caps and value the relative safe harbor here.
