Medium-term (MT), the major index ETFs are in downtrends after the August support breaks. In addition, the PPO (20,120,1) and PPO (10,60,1) are in negative territory to confirm these downtrends. Short-term (ST), the major index ETFs are mixed. IWM and SPY broke down this week and... READ MORE
In addition to this successful ad campaign, Aetna sports a bullish looking chart that argues for higher prices. First note that it has been a tough month for stocks with the S&P 500 down around 1.5% month-to-date. Aetna, in contrast, is holding up rather well and up... READ MORE
With the Fed noise behind us, for the most part at least, we can now focus on some untainted price action to define trends in the stock market. I view this week as important because there is less noise and chartists should watch for a decisive move - one way... READ MORE
There are lots of technology-consumer companies out there, but few are bigger than the big five: Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. While I am not sure if it is a zero-sum game for these behemoths, two are emerging as the leaders over the last few weeks. The SharpChart below... READ MORE
Wedges are Still Rising - Despite the Noise The stock market has certainly seen its fair share of noise in September. This noise includes the usual chatter from the talking heads and the Fed, as well as some volatile price action. Over the last 13 trading days, SPY gapped down... READ MORE
The S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) and the 7-10 YR T-Bond ETF (IEF) are going their separate ways as opposing wedges takes shape and IEF outperforms SPY (bonds outperform stocks). First, note that I am using close-only price charts to filter out some of the noise few weeks. This... READ MORE
The S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) and the 7-10 YR T-Bond ETF (IEF) are going their separate ways as opposing wedges takes shape and IEF outperforms SPY (bonds outperform stocks). First, note that I am using close-only price charts to filter out some of the noise few weeks. This... READ MORE
Medium-term Evidence Remains Bearish Video will be posted around 11AM ET. The bulk of the medium-term evidence remains bearish for the stock market as a whole. I noted that a bullish breadth thrust occurred on Thursday. This thrust, however, was not confirmed by other breadth indicators - namely High-Low Percent.... READ MORE
Large-Techs and Mid-caps Lead in September The September bounce is shaping up rather nicely with the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P MidCap 400 leading the major indices. The PerfChart below shows the month-to-date performance for eight stock indices. The Nasdaq 100 is the clear leader with a 2.... READ MORE
The weekly chart for United Airlines (UAL) is looking bullish as the stock firms in a key retracement zone and weekly MACD turns up. The green text on the chart marks five technical features over the last 15 months. First, the stock broke out to new highs in October 2014.... READ MORE
The major index ETFs remain in medium-term downtrends and short-term uptrends. Well, the short-term uptrend in SPY is up for debate because a triangle is taking shape. Nevertheless, SPY, QQQ and IWM gapped up last Tuesday and these gaps held for five days. We saw an intraday reversal on Wednesday... READ MORE
Star Wars fans may remember that quote from Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode IV (A New Hope). In any case, it came to mind when looking at the chart for Hasbro, which holds the merchandising rights for Star Wars toys. I see three reasons to be bullish on the... READ MORE
There is clearly a bearish headwind working against stocks right now. The major stock indices are in downtrends after their August support breaks, the key breadth indicators are bearish and all nine sectors are in downtrends. The image below shows the major indexes and their key breadth indicators. The boxes... READ MORE
Bullish Breadth Thrust Falls Short Stocks surged on Wednesday's open, but quickly gave up these gains and declined into the close. Selling pressure was quite broad as AD Percent for the S&P 500 exceeded -80%. Small-caps held up better as S&P 600 AD Percent... READ MORE
StockCharts users can create intraday P&F charts to shorten their time horizon and identify key levels to watch. The chart below is a 60-minute P&F chart with 10 points per box and a classic 3-box reversal. After plunging to 3790 in mid August, the Nasdaq 100... READ MORE
Breadth was exceptionally strong the last two weeks and the broad market indices are on the verge of a bullish breadth thrust. Despite a couple big down days last week, AD Percent for the major index ETFs put in four strong readings in the last nine trading days. Note that... READ MORE
Click here for the recording QQQ Shows Relative Strength as Pennant Takes Shape There are two narratives at work in the stock market and these are reflected on the charts for QQQ, SPY and IWM. First, we have a big support break in August and this break down is medium-term... READ MORE
Bonds are outperforming stocks as money flows into relative safety and shuns risk. Overall, relative strength in bonds reflects risk aversion in the financial markets. Relative strength in bonds also indicates that investors should prefer bonds over stocks right now. Like all market dynamics, it is subject to change, but... READ MORE
Oversold Bounces Fall Short The overall trend remains down for the major index ETFs (QQQ, SPY and IWM). Trading turned volatile with the mid August breakdowns, but the breakdowns remain and these are the dominant feature on most stock-related charts. Current volatility makes it hard to determine what will happen... READ MORE
What do VIX Extremes Tell Us? Even though it can be difficult to trade based on extremes, note that the volatility indices are at extremes that suggest plenty of fear and this could foreshadow a bounce. The first chart shows daily closing values for the S&P 500 Volatility... READ MORE
This is just a quick and dirty note regarding today's strength in airline stocks. The table below shows eight airline stocks, the Airline ETF (JETS) and the DJ US Airline Index ($DJUSAR). Notice that the StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) for two stocks is above 90 (JBLU and ALK)... READ MORE
Selling pressure was quite intense on Tuesday as some 497 stocks in the S&P 500 declined on the day. This means there were only three winners on the day: CableVision (CVC), American Airlines (AAL) and Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL), which is going to be acquired by Merck. Cablevision, which is... READ MORE
Stock futures are sharply lower on Tuesday morning and this means the oversold bounce is failing below the support break for the major index ETFs, sector ETFs and most industry group ETFs. Stocks became very oversold in mid August and then rebounded with sharp rallies last week. The deeper the... READ MORE
Stocks were hit hard in mid August with the S&P 500 and many stocks plunging below their spring-summer lows. This means stocks that held their summer lows are by definition showing relative chart strength because they did not break a key level. The chart below shows CVR Refining... READ MORE
Setting Upside Targets for the Big 3 We are going to start with some candlestick charts so chartists can see the volatility of the last few days. There are few things to note overall. First, stocks became very oversold after sharp declines from August 18th to August 24th (five trading... READ MORE
There has been a big changing of the guard over the last few weeks as stock alternatives gained in relative rankings. The table below shows the StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) for our ETF universe, which excludes inverse and leveraged ETFs. It is sorted by the one-week change for the SCTR.... READ MORE
Index Table Turns Deep Red The charts and commentary are part of Tuesday's webinar. Click here for the recording. Unsurprisingly, the breadth-trend table has turned decidedly bearish over the last few days. The blue ovals mark the breadth indicators that turned bearish this past week. Last Tuesday, this... READ MORE
Stocks opened weak, plunged after the open and then recovered around midday. The Dow dipped below 15500 in the morning and then moved back to the 16200 area by noon ET. The opening gap, deep dip and recovery mean that several stocks could form big hammers today. These are short-term... READ MORE
The major index ETFs remain in corrective mode, but two of the four are close to breaking long-term support levels. The challenge with corrections is we never know which corrections will evolve into bigger downtrends. As the charts now stand, QQQ and SPY hit new highs in mid July and... READ MORE
Just ask HD and WMT. These two big retail stocks are part of the Dow Industrials and the S&P 500. Despite a common industry group, the performance for these two stocks could not be any more different. The chart below shows year-to-date performance for Home Depot (HD) and... READ MORE
Today's webinar and commentary will take a top down look at the stock market. First, the index table with the breadth indicators shows a split market with half bullish and half bearish. The sector table, however, still tilts towards the bulls with five of the nine sectors in... READ MORE
Amgen (AMGN), a big biopharma stock, broke out with expanding volume in July and hit a new 52-week high. After becoming short-term overbought, the stock fell back to the breakout zone. There are two things to note here. First, broken resistance turns into the first support zone. Second, a pullback... READ MORE
The S&P 500 SPDR remains largely range-bound since March, but a pair of potentially bullish patterns emerged and signs of accumulation are appearing. First, note that SPY hit new 52-week highs in May and July, and the overall trend is still up. The ETF is trading within 2%... READ MORE
Stocks chopped around on Thursday and the major index ETFs ended the day with little change. The Dow Diamonds (DIA) was up .06% and the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) was down .12%, twice as much as DIA, but still a fraction. Consumer discretionary and finance led, while energy... READ MORE
Stocks started the day under selling pressure as the S&P 500 fell around 1.5% in the first hour trading. The buyers then stepped in and pushed the index above its prior close for a small gain. The big hammer candlestick formed as a result. While this intraday... READ MORE
The major stock indices were hit with selling pressure on Wednesday, but two sectors and a few stocks bucked the selling and moved higher. How can we find these? Chartists can use the Sector MarketCarpet to easily spot the gainers because they are green and stick out like a sore... READ MORE
Easy come, easy go. Stocks surged on Monday and then gave it back on Tuesday. Most sectors and industry groups were hit with selling pressure on Tuesday. Some interest-rate sensitive groups bucked the selling pressure as the 20+ YR T-Bond ETF (TLT) surged and the 10-YR Treasury Yield ($TNX) fell.... READ MORE
Stocks rallied with a broad advance that lifted most boats. The sectors and industry groups that were hit the hardest over the last few months got the biggest bounces. These include energy, materials, mining, gold and steel. Elsewhere, the EW Consumer Discretionary ETF (RCD) surged 1.5% and held support.... READ MORE
The Semiconductor SPDR (XSD) has been one of the weakest industry group ETFs within the technology sector over the last two months, and Texas Instruments (TXN) has been one of the weakest stocks in the group. That might be changing. The middle window on the chart below shows TXN relative... READ MORE
Stocks were hit with selling pressure last week, but it was not that intense. QQQ lost 1.5%, SPY declined 1.2% and IWM was down 2.5%. Small-caps remain relatively weak and continue to lead on the way down. Also note that the Equal-Weight S&P 500 ETF... READ MORE