Want to find the leaders in the S&P 500? The StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) ranks the 500 S&P stocks from 0 to 100. The top 50 stocks in the index have scores from 90 to 100. These are deemed the stocks with the strongest technicals and... READ MORE
The bulls finally took a breather as stocks succumbed to some selling pressure on Wednesday. Small-caps led the way lower as the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) fell over 1%. All sectors were down with the Industrials SPDR (XLI) falling .91% on the day. Given the run ups over the last... READ MORE
Careful out there. It is earnings season, the employment report is Friday and the new month starts. CIEN Breaks Down and Underperforms. MBI Forms Triangle and Bounces on Good Volume. Plus KO, S, USB, WSM This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation... READ MORE
The bigger trends are clearly up for the Retail SPDR (XRT) as the ETF broke resistance with a big surge in January. However, XRT is short-term overbought after a big move and bearish candlesticks are taking shape. A harami-cross formed on Friday-Monday and a hanging man formed on Tuesday. A... READ MORE
Stocks started the day weak, but then caught a bid and the broad market indices moved higher the rest of the day. The final gains were not that big with the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) advancing .39% and the Dow Industrials SPDR (DIA) closing .42% higher. The sectors... READ MORE
Research in Motion (RIMM) has been one of the best performing stocks since late September. There is, however, evidence that the advance has exhausted itself as RIMM filled last week's gap above 16. This fill makes it an exhaustion gap that could give way to a retracement of... READ MORE
Stocks started the week mixed with the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) edging higher and the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) edging lower. And I do mean "edging" because the moves were fractional. The sectors were also mixed with the Basic Materials SPDR (XLB) falling around 1% and... READ MORE
Careful out there. Earnings seaon is in full swing. ATVI Forms Flag Just Below Resistance. BIDU Breaks Flag Resistance with Volume. Plus CHS, CVG, EA, GME This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security... READ MORE
The DJ US Defense Index ($DJUSDN) was hit hard the last three days and broke below the January lows. This index is now down for the year, which means it is underperforming the broader market. The indicator window shows the Percent Price Oscillator (PPO) turning lower, but remaining in positive... READ MORE
What more could a stock market want? The S&P 500 advanced the last eight days in a row and closed at a 52-week high. The Dow surged some 400 points in the last six days. Treasury bonds fell as market participants moved from safe-havens to riskier assets. The... READ MORE
The P&F pattern table on the predefined scans page is a good place to gauge the long-term trend for the stock market. As with a Bullish Percent Index, chartists simply need to pick a pattern and then compare the number of stocks on bullish P&F signals... READ MORE
There are no changes in the indicator summary because stocks remained strong this week. QQQ and XLK were dragged down by Apple, but the Nasdaq 100 Equal-Weight ETF (QQEW) hit a new high, which means the average tech stock is doing just fine. The NYSE AD Line remains on an... READ MORE
The broad market indices edged higher on Thursday, but Apple dominated ETFs moved lower (QQQ and XLK). Note that the Nasdaq 100 Equal-Weight ETF (QQEW) advanced .43% and the FirstTrust Internet ETF (FDN) was up over 2%. The Basic Materials SPDR (XLB) was up on the day, but several industry... READ MORE
Apple may not support flash on its iPhone and iPad, but that does not seem to bother Adobe (ADBE) shareholders. Adobe lagged Apple throughout 2012, but may be having the last laugh as it starts to outperform. Apple is up less than 5% over the last 12 months, while Adobe... READ MORE
Apple whiffed and the stock is trading sharply lower after hours. This means the Nasdaq, QQQ and the Technology SPDR (XLK) will also be down in early trading on Thursday. It seems to be an Apple and big tech specific issue because the Dow futures are up slightly and the... READ MORE
ESRX Underperforms and Tests Wedge Support. ORLY Firms at Support with Good Volume. Plus AMKR, JBL, PNRA, YUM This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all need to... READ MORE
The Silver Miners ETF (SIL) is having a tough time this year with a failed gap and now a move below the early January low. After breaking down in November, the ETF formed a rising channel the last two months. SIL broke channel support today and continues to show relative... READ MORE
Stocks extended their gains on Tuesday with the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) and S&P MidCap 400 SPDR (MDY) leading the way higher. Small-caps and mid-caps have been leading this market since mid November and show no signs of slowing down. Finance, materials, energy and utilities led the sectors... READ MORE
The Utilities SPDR (XLU) is showing some upside leadership on Tuesday with a .95% gain. This makes XLU the top performing sector so far. Energy (XLE), Financials (XLF) and Materials (XLB) are also performing well. You can find more leaders and laggards on the market summary page. Click this image... READ MORE
Stocks surged out of the gates to start 2013 and the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) closed at its highest level of the year (13 days). Buying pressure continues has we head into a big week for earnings. Some 100 reports are scheduled today, around 120 on Wednesday and... READ MORE
Care out there. It is earnings season. AA Falls back to Firs Support Zone. PCG Surges and Forms Pennant. Plus RDC and SO. This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or... READ MORE
The Technology SPDR (XLK) has been lagging the broader market for some time now, but the trend since mid November remains up and a bullish continuation pattern is taking shape this month. Weighed down by its top components, XLK has been lagging the S&P 500 ETF since September.... READ MORE
Stocks moved higher this week, but Google (GOOG) did not partake and fell rather sharply. Notice that the stock broke the November trend line and filled the 2-Jan gap. Yes, GOOG is below its 2-Jan open . The price relative (GOOG:SPY ratio) turned down and broke support this week. GOOG... READ MORE
The only thing the bulls have to fear is bullishness itself. In other words, the bulk of the evidence is bullish, but stocks are getting overbought because the S&P 500 is up 10% since mid November (two months). The Russell 2000 ($RUT) is up over 15%. Except for... READ MORE
Stocks surged on Thursday with the S&P 500 hitting multi year highs. The Nasdaq and the Dow also surged and are poised to challenge their September highs. Stocks were buoyed by a surprisingly large jump in housing starts and a large decline in initial jobless claims. Even though... READ MORE
The Dow is up triple digits and close to its Sep-Oct highs, but the NYSE most active list shows more decliners than gainers (7 to 3). Big banks (BAC,C,JPM) are leading the way lower on profit taking. The Nasdaq most active list, in contrast, shows nine up and... READ MORE
Trading remains mixed overall, but the bias is still bullish as the major index ETFs hold their New Year's gains. SPY, MDY, QQEW and IWM have edged higher since gapping up on 2-Jan. QQQ, which has been weighed down by Apple, has traded flat. The bulls have the... READ MORE
BRCM Holds Gap with Flat Flag. GRMN Breaks Support and Forms Bear Flag. Plus BHI, LH, ORLY, SCHL This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all need to... READ MORE
The markets have been in risk-on mode since mid November and continue to embrace risk. The chart below shows the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and US Oil Fund (USO) performing the best. The 20+ Year T-Bond ETF (TLT) is performing the worst. Also note that the Euro Currency... READ MORE
It is getting to be a familiar story. Stocks in general edged higher, but the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) edged lower because of weakness in Apple. AAPL broke support at 500 with a sharp decline on Tuesday. The company reports next Wednesday after the close. This is definitely one of... READ MORE
Activision (ATVI) came to life with a gap and high-volume surge off support in 2013. The stock remains in a long-term downtrend, but could be forming a double bottom over the last three months. A break above the December high would confirm the pattern and reverse the downtrend. Click this... READ MORE
Stocks were mixed on Monday with the Dow Industrials SPDR (DIA) and Nasdaq 100 Equal-Weight ETF (QQEW) edging higher, while the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) and S&P 500 ETF (SPY) edged lower. QQQ was weighed down by weakness in QCOM, AAPL and GOOG. The Dow was helped by... READ MORE
AMKR Forms High-Tight Pennant. AVP Firms at Key Retracement. Plus CSX, EA, IBM, KGC, RSD/A This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all need to think for... READ MORE
American Science and Engineering (ASEI) surged in November and then moved into a trading range the last six week. Notice that volatility is contracting as the Bollinger Bands narrow. In particular, ASEI traded between 64.5 and 66.2 during January, which is a very tight range indeed. Watch these... READ MORE
After big moves on 31-Dec and 2-Jan, stocks edged higher the last seven trading days. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) closed at 146.06 on Wednesday (2-Jan) and at 147.07 on Friday (11-Jan). Even though the ability to hold the initial gains and edge higher is positive,... READ MORE
The Australian Dollar Index ($XAD) broke above trend line resistance from a large triangle this week. Medium-term, the index is still trading in a range extending back to July 2012. A break above the July-September highs would argue for a challenge to the 2011 highs. Click this image for a... READ MORE
The vast majority of market indicators remain in bull mode. The Nasdaq AD Line broke above its December high this week and the Nasdaq AD Volume Line broke above its September high. The Nasdaq continues to lag the NY Composite, but tech stocks are starting to show a little life.... READ MORE
Stocks moved higher on Thursday with the major index ETFs scoring modest gains, very modest gains. The S&P 100 ETF (OEF) led the way with a whopping .80% advance. The Finance SPDR (XLF) led the sectors with a 1.27% gain on renewed confidence in US banks. Semiconductors... READ MORE
IBM has been underperforming the broader market for several months and continued this trend with a break below support. On the P&F chart, notice how the stock formed three O-Columns with equal lows in January. The current O-Columnm which is red, broke below these lows to forge the... READ MORE
AAN Consolidates after Channel Break. BMC Breaks Resistance and Shows Relative Strength in 2013. Plus CVX, LH, VFC, VMW, XOM This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all... READ MORE