Keybot the Quant remains long with the algo number 22 points above the signal line. The bulls are trying to keep stocks buoyant into the Fed meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday with the rate decision and Chairman Powell presser on Wednesday afternoon. Typically, stocks are up 80% of the time the couple days in front of a Fed meeting (Tuesday and Wednesday). Thus, if the bears want to growl, they will likely need to bring it out of the gate tomorrow.
Utilities, volatility and banks are running the show right now. Everything else is noise. UTIL 1088.74 and UTIL 1056 are two key bull/bear line in the sand to watch this week. UTIL begins at 1078 that will create negativity in equities since it is below the 1089. Stocks will fall apart if UTIL 1056 fails.
For next week, 12/15/25, UTIL 1089 will be meaningless and replaced with 1078.53 for all of that week. Lo and behold, since saying lo and behold seems appropriate this time of year, lo and behold, you can already see that battle shaping-up. At 4 PM EST Friday, check UTIL, or DJU, to see if it is above or below 1078.53 since that will tell you the bias of the stock market ahead of time for the week of 12/15/25.
VIX 17.22 is the bull/bear line in the sand with price at 15.41 so stocks rally higher. Bears need the VIX above 17.22 to growl, otherwise, they got buptkis.
XLF 52.77 is the bull/bear line in the sand with price at 53.68 so stocks rally higher. Bears need the XLF below 52.77 to growl, otherwise, they got buptkis. You can check XLF in the premarket to see if it is down -1.7% to cause stock market trouble, or not.
UTIL 1089 is helping bears. UTIL 1056, VIX 17.22 and XLF 52.77 are helping bulls and the reason the stock market remains buoyant. With any selloff occurring going forward, you can gauge the extent of downside damage by those 3 metrics.
If stocks sell off, but VIX is still below 17.22, bears got nothing and stocks will rally again. If all three metrics fail, a broad stock market crash will be on the table. The quant likely needs 2 of those 3 metrics to turn bearish to flip short. Another possibility would be if UTIL pops above 1089, but then slips back below a short time later, then back above, then below, rinse and repeat, these jog moves above and below UTIL 1089 would likely walk the robot towards flipping short.
It should be an interesting week ahead. Keybot does not print any prescheduled numbers this week. The stock market is Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.
12/14/25;
7:00 PM EST =
12/7/25;
7:00 PM EST = +39; signal line is +17
12/5/25;
10:00 AM EST = +39; signal line is +15
12/2/25;
3:35 AM EST = +39; signal line is +13