The markets have been in a holding pattern in anticipation of the Federal Reserve meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Will the Fed raise rates, or will they leave them alone until after the election? That is the question traders will wait to have answered. Until then traders have been reluctant to take new risk, which has caused a sideways range for the week so far. There was a little bit of excitement in the overnight hours as the Bank of Japan decided to leave rates the same and increase QE, but for the most part traders ware waiting on Janet Yellen.

The S&P 500 (SPY  ) remains just off its all time highs set back in August. Traders consider the SPY to be on support and just holding at the moment. Yes, the Federal Reserve has that much influence over the markets.

The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ  ) tells quite a different story. Able to recover from last weeks steep selloff, the Nasdaq 100 has already made it back to its prior highs. Thanks to Apple (AAPL  ) the Nasdaq was able to rally almost immediately following the sell off.

Bonds (TLT  ) have recovered slightly from last weeks sell off but traders have been hesitant to take further risk due to the pending Fed news. Technical traders will note that the low set back on September 15th was right on support, and for now they would argue that support is holding.

Retail (XRT  ) refuses to bounce at all. The decline which started back in late August has continued with only small, one day bounces along the way. After setting a high on August 23rd, the XRT is down over 7% with no signs of a bounce yet. Holding at the 200 day moving average, traders are waiting for a bounce, just not getting it.

Lastly, Oil (USO  ) continues to look for ways to get back in the spotlight. Volume has been heavy indicating that a new move is on the horizon, but so far the daily ranges have been small this week.