Nasdaq Has the Tailwind. The Breakout Still Has to Earn ItE-mini Nasdaq-100 FuturesCME_MINI_DL:NQ1!Sophie_MarenThe macro backdrop has become more supportive for growth stocks. July U.S. inflation rose only 0.1% month over month, while annual CPI eased to 3.4%. The Nasdaq responded positively as softer inflation reduced immediate pressure for another Federal Reserve rate increase. But the H4 chart has not completed the same transition. Nasdaq futures have recovered sharply from the early-August decline and rebuilt a sequence of higher lows. Buyers are clearly making more progress than they were during the previous selloff. The problem is location. Price is now pressing directly into the descending structure that has capped every meaningful recovery since June. At the same time, rising support continues to compress price from below. That makes the current area a genuine decision point rather than another routine rally. The primary scenario remains constructive while the rising sequence of higher lows holds. A sustained break above descending resistance, followed by acceptance above it, would suggest buyers have finally converted improving momentum into structural control. The alternative scenario is another failure beneath the trendline. A rejection followed by a break of rising support would show that the recovery improved momentum without actually changing the broader lower-high structure. Invalidation: The bullish continuation thesis weakens materially if Nasdaq loses the latest higher low and fails to recover the rising support structure. For now, buyers have the better momentum. They still need the breakout.