Nasdaq drops toward 200-day average

"Market sentiment has been shaken by concerns over the prospect of imminent Fed tightening along with record global Covid-19 infection rates, but we don't expect either of these factors to end the equity rally," said UBS Wealth Management CIO Mark Haefele in a note. "The fourth-quarter U.S. earnings season, which started this week, could turn investor attention back to strong fundamentals."

Traders also paid attention to today's U.S. retail sales data, which came out horribly. December is usually a strong season due to the Christmas holidays, but last month's retail sales plunged to -1.9% month-on-month, down from 0.2% previously. Moreover, the control group sales dropped even more to -3.1% from -0.5% in November.

It looks like the index is on its way to the 200-day moving average (the green line) for the first time since April 2020. That zone near 15,000 USD is the key support to watch. If broken to the downside, the long-term uptrend could be in jeopardy, with a possible decline to 14,400 USD.

Alternatively, if bulls buy the dip, the index must climb above 15,500 USD to cancel the short-term bearish momentum.