Finisar (FNSR) plunged with a move from 23.50 to 18, but found support right at the 61.80% retracement line, which is based on a Fibonacci number. Even though the stock has yet to recover, it is consolidating with clear support and resistance levels to watch going forward. Click... READ MORE
The indicator summary remains firmly positive with relative weakness in small-caps the only concern in the market right now. Well, I am also concerned with overbought conditions that could lead to a corrective period ahead. Nevertheless, we have yet to see any signs of significant selling pressure. The current advance... READ MORE
The second shoe dropped for the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), but the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) held up rather well (surprise, surprise). I heard an interview with Barry Ritholtz talking about the four asset classes: stocks, commodities, bonds and Apple. While Apple sentiment... READ MORE
The Sector Market Carpet shows the nine S&P sectors with the energy sector displaying the most red. The average stock is down 2.9% and three of the five biggest losers come from this sector. Defensive sectors held up the best on Thursday with consumer staples, healthcare and... READ MORE
Is the second shoe about to drop? Stocks fell sharply on the open Tuesday and then consolidated since this open. Short-term, and I do mean very short-term, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) held the gap down and formed a pennant consolidation on the 60-minute chart. A break below... READ MORE
CAT Gaps Down on High Volume. KSS Stalls after Gap Down. MON Forms Triangle Consolidation. Plus AMGN, HAL, OIH, SWC 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
With a gap up, two candlesticks and a gap down, the Steel ETF (SLX) formed an island reversal over the last five days. Notice that this reversal formed near the late February highs and the ETF broke the March trendline with further weakness on Wednesday. Click this image for a... READ MORE
Stocks were hit with selling pressure on the open, but the major index ETFs worked their way higher the rest of the day. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) opened around 140 and worked its way to the 140.60 area by the afternoon. On the 10-minute chart, this... READ MORE
Want to gauge retail spending? Just take a look at the Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY), which hit a new 52-week high today. There are 80 stocks in this sector and most are dependant on consumer spending to drive revenues (think Disney, Macy's, Amazon, Starbucks, DR Horton). New highs... READ MORE
The song remains the same (circa 1973). Stocks are overbought, but there are simply no signs of significant selling pressure. Maybe that will change with stock futures down in early trading on turnaround Tuesday. Over the last nine days, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is up 4.98%... READ MORE
AMZN Underperforms with Triangle Consolidation. CHH Stalls Below Late December high. RDC Forms Harami Cross within Rising Wedge. Plus BIDU, CHH, CHRW, D, QLGC and WIN 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
Volatility is falling everywhere these days. Notice that the CBOE Volatility Index ($VIX) and the Crude Oil Volatility Index ($OVX) both moved sharply lower in March. $OVX plunged the last two weeks as Spot Light Crude bounced off the 105 area for the second time this month. Click this image... READ MORE
Stocks are about as overbought as they have been in a long time. Even so, there are simply no signs of significant or sustained selling pressure. Declines, such as those seen in late January or early March, have been short affairs lasting just a few days. The subsequent rallies proved... READ MORE
While the S&P 500 and Dow moved to new highs last week, the Materials SPDR (XLB) fell short of its February highs and continues to underperform. Also note that the Technology SPDR (XLK) and Consumer Discretional SPDR moved to new 52-week highs last week. Along with the Finance... READ MORE
It has been a tough March for gold, but the Gold SPDR (GLD) may be at support marked by the Fibonacci Retracements Tool. Notice that the decline to 159 retraced 50-61.80% of the prior advance and the ETF firmed just above 160 the last two days. Watch for a... READ MORE
There is no change in the indicator summary. Nine indicators were bullish at the start of the week and nine remain bullish. The AD Volume Lines surged to new highs with a strong move the last seven days. Net New Highs also expanded on both the NYSE and Nasdaq as... READ MORE
There is not much change overall. Stocks remain in strong uptrends with no signs of selling pressure. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) surged above the upper trendline of a rising channel. There are two trends at work on this 60-minute chart. First, the rising channel defines an uptrend... READ MORE
The Dow Transports has been lagging the Dow Industrials for several weeks now, but is making a catch up bid with a falling flag breakout the last few days. After a breakout on Monday, the Average fell back sharply on Tuesday with a close below 5200. This decline was wiped... READ MORE
Treasuries are falling off a cliff, commodities are softening, gold is plunging, the Dollar is strengthening and stocks remain the best game in town. The recent decline in treasuries suggests that the economy will continue to expand and the labor market will continue to improve. Money moving out of treasuries... READ MORE
ALK Consolidates after Break Down. MOS Forms Bear Flag on Low Volume. SNDK Falls Back below Tuesday's Low. Plus JOYG, LEAP, TTWO. 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... READ MORE
Looking for a list of market leaders? Simply go to the pre-defined scans page for a list of stocks hitting new 52-week highs. Over 500 stocks made the list on Tuesday and over 400 made the list today. The chart below shows Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) breaking consolidation resistance and... READ MORE
Stocks caught a big bullish wind in the final hour and surged with financials leading the charge. Yesterday's surge certainly has the markings of a blow-off top, which is the opposite of a selling climax. However, picking a top in this environment is very dangerous. On the 60-minute... READ MORE
Chartists can access CandleGlance charts for dozens of industry groups on the FreeCharts page. The screen shot below shows some charts from the Home Construction industry group on the left and the industry group drop-down menu from the Free Charts page. Talk about relative strength. Several stocks in this group... READ MORE
Stocks were mixed on Monday with the Dow edging higher and the Russell 2000 edging lower. Sector action was also mixed with technology gaining a fraction and the consumer discretionary sector finishing slightly lower. In an interesting twist, the consumer staples and utilities sectors were the biggest gainers. In fact,... READ MORE
CTXS Challenges Resistance with 3-Day Surge. GOOG Breaks Wedge Trendline with Gap. WCRX Moves Above Channel Trendline. Plus CTSH, DANG, WFT 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... READ MORE
Research in Motion (RIMM) remains down in the dumps as the Price Relative broke below its December low and remains in a downtrend. This RIMM:QQQ ratio falls when RIMM underperforms QQQ. On the price chart, RIMM is testing its December low, but the new low in the Price Relative... READ MORE
After a sharp setback on Tuesday, stocks moved from oversold to overbought in three days. The Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) surged from 78.5 to 81.5 (3.8%), the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) moved back to resistance at 138 and the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) is challenging... READ MORE
Lifted by exporters, the Nikkei 225 ($NIKK) is one of the best performing markets over the last eight weeks. The chart below shows the index surging from ±8400 to ±9900 since mid January (+17.8%). With lots of exporters, the sharp drop in the Yen ETF (FXY) no doubt helped... READ MORE
The first selling pressure in some three months hit the stock market this week, but the short 1-3 day decline is a mere blip in the bigger uptrend. Stocks were overbought and some sort of corrective period is perfectly normal. The correction already started for the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM)... READ MORE
There is nothing like the first decent dip after a strong advance. Stocks advanced for some 11 weeks and then corrected hard with a sharp decline Friday-Monday-Tuesday. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was down around 2% over these three days. Those who missed the rally or were under... READ MORE
Spot Gold ($GOLD) declined sharply and then found support right at the Ichimoku Cloud with a bounce the last two days. The bulls grabbed the edge with the cloud breakout in January and hold the edge as long as cloud support holds. Watch for a move above the Conversion Line... READ MORE
After sharp declines that created oversold conditions on Tuesday, stocks firmed and bounced on Wednesday. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) broke support at 135 on Tuesday, but moved back above this level on Wednesday. Even though the short-term trend is considered down, the bigger trend is up and... READ MORE
AMZN Consolidates with Triangle Pattern. BMY Consolidates after Breakout. CNP Forms Bull Flag at Trendline Resistance. Plus ADP, ANF, CHKP, TBT. 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... READ MORE
The Home Construction iShares (ITB) corrected over the last few weeks with a falling flag pattern taking shape. The flag is still falling, but the Commodity Channel Index is rebounding with a move back above -100 (oversold). The next step for CCI is a trendline break. Click this image for... READ MORE
Stocks clearly broke down with a broad-based decline on Tuesday. Even though the short-term trend is now down, keep in mind that stocks are already short-term oversold and the medium-term trend is still up. On the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) chart, the ETF broke the support zone with... READ MORE
With stocks down sharply in early trading on Tuesday, it is little surprise that the Sector Market Carpet shows a sea of red and all sectors are lower. There are, however, a few gainers and three come from the consumer discretionary sector, strangely enough. Morgan Stanley, the biggest loser, is... READ MORE
The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) dipped below 137 on Monday. While this is still viewed as a correction within an uptrend, note that RSI dipped to its lowest level since mid December. StochRSI also dipped below .20 twice and failed to break back above the resistance zone (.50-.... READ MORE
CAKE Consolidates after Sharp Decline. EXPD Surges to Resistance. MRK Bounds off October Trendline. Plus CVH, UIS, UNP 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
With the volatility contracting over the last few weeks, the Bollinger Bands on the Utilities SPDR (XLU) are at their narrowest since March 2011. The Bollinger BandWdith indicator is below .50 and the XLU range has narrowed to 75 cents. Watch support and resistance for the next directional clue. Click... READ MORE
The S&P 500 ETF and Nasdaq 100 ETF remain in uptrends, but the Russell 2000 ETF broke support and the Dollar ETF appears to be breaking out. Relative weakness in small-caps and strength in the greenback could further weigh on stocks, which are still overbought and ripe for... READ MORE