Today I am going to dive into breadth by looking at two indicator groups used for short-term market timing and three indicator groups for long-term market timing. Most of you are familiar with these indicators: AD Percent, Up/Down Volume%, High-Low Percent and %Above 200-day EMA. Stocks fell on Wednesday... READ MORE
After an extended tightening cycle, the Fed is set to lower rates for the first time since December 2008 (yawn). It seems easy to equate easier Fed policy as bullish for housing, but the relationship between Treasury yields and the Home Construction iShares (ITB) is not as clear cut. First... READ MORE
This post will update some prior setups that are still working as we start the week. As noted in the State of the Stock Market on Friday, we are in a bull market right now and have been since mid February. Anyone basing their decisions on the current trend, aka... READ MORE
Fastenal, an industrial staples company, is reversing off a key level with an RSI failure swing working. Never heard of that sector? Let me explain. The company is a wholesale distributor for industrial and construction supplies, including nuts, bolts, screws, washers and fasteners. It does not get much more basic... READ MORE
Price action is not everything, it's the only thing. This is what Vince Lombardi might have said were he a trader or investor. Indicators are great for scans and sorting through hundreds of stocks, but nothing takes the place of price action. Moreover, our profits and losses are... READ MORE
... The S&P 500 SPDR hit another new all time high this week, while small-caps and mid-caps came alive, if just for one day. Even though small-caps and mid-caps are lagging since March, the new high in the S&P 500 affirms the bull market environment. Keep in... READ MORE
Healthcare is not exactly a leading sector right now, but the Health Care SPDR (XLV) sports a big triangle breakout on the weekly chart and this breakout is holding. Note that SPY, XLK, XLY and XLP hit new highs in July and these are the chart leaders right now. Even... READ MORE
The Biotech ETFs, XBI and IBB, have underperformed the broader market the entire year. The chart below shows the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) with higher highs in early May and July. The ETF also recorded fresh 52-week highs in May and July. The Biotech iShares (IBB) and Biotech... READ MORE
What if you knew the Dollar would be up 3% over the last six months? What would your prognosis be for oil and gold? Most pundits would not have a bullish forecast for gold and not expect much from oil. Nevertheless, the Gold SPDR (GLD) is up 10.70% the... READ MORE
A consolidation within an uptrend is considered the pause that refreshes. Stocks often become overbought after a sharp advance in a short period of time and need to work off these overbought conditions with a correction. Corrections are of two types: price or time. The stock can decline and retrace... READ MORE
* Bull Market Affirmed. * Short-term Twilight Zone. * Index Table Remains Bullish. * YouTube Video. * Small-cap Breadth Remains Weak. * IWM: Bearish Trend line Break or Bull Wedge? * Sector Table Remains Bullish. * 83 Stocks in Strong and Steady Uptrends. * Art's Charts ChartList Update. ... Bull Market Affirmed ... The S&P 500 advanced... READ MORE
The first step to finding great stocks is establishing the bigger trend for the market, the sector, the industry group and the stock. It is not as hard as it sounds. First, the S&P 500 is clearly in a long-term uptrend because it is above the rising 200-day... READ MORE
The S&P 500 SPDR and Technology SPDR (XLK) hit new highs this month. Thus, the S&P 500 is signaling a bull market and the technology sector is leading. The Semiconductor SPDR (XSD), which is a broad-based semiconductor ETF, is also showing leadership as it challenges its... READ MORE
The S&P 500 hit a new 52-week high last week and three sectors joined the index with new highs of their own: the Technology SPDR, the Consumer Discretionary SPDR and the Consumer Staples SPDR. Note that I am basing the new highs on price chart using unadjusted prices,... READ MORE
The NYSE and Nasdaq are fine as exchanges, but their AD Lines do not tell the entire story when it comes to breadth. The major stock indexes, such as the S&P 500 and S&P Small-cap 600, contain stocks from both exchanges. As such, robust breadth indicators... READ MORE
* Large-caps Continue to Lead. * New Highs Follow Moving Average Signals. * Index Breadth Table Remains Bullish. * Sector Breadth Table Remains Bullish. * Tech-Related ETFs Continue to Lead. * Biotech ETFs Stutter after Breakouts. * Art's Charts ChartList Update. ... Large-caps Continue to Lead The week so far is mixed for stocks with small-caps... READ MORE
Sorry, I could not resist the pun in that head line. Relative and absolute strength is often dependent on timeframe. One stock may show upside leadership on a one month timeframe, but be lagging on the three and six month timeframes. For example, Tilray (TLRY) is up 16.37% over... READ MORE
Finding stocks with strong uptrends is the first step to stock selection during bull markets, and we are in a bull market. The S&P 500 hit a new all time high just last week, the largest sector (technology) is leading with XLK also hitting a new high last... READ MORE
Stocks that hit new highs are in clear uptrends and show upside leadership. A new high does not have to be within a few days or even a few weeks. Sometimes stocks hit new highs and then correct for a few months to digest prior gains. It is all part... READ MORE
On a closing basis, only one sector hit a new high on Tuesday and that sector just happens to be the biggest sector in the S&P 500. According to SPDRs.com, the Technology SPDR (XLK) accounts for 21.63% of the S&P 500 and is by... READ MORE
There is much more to a sector than its price chart and StockCharts has the data to take your sector analysis to the next level. Yes, I am talking about the unique breadth indicators that our crack data team calculates and publishes every day. These indicators include AD Percent, High-Low... READ MORE
Dine Brands (DIN) is the parent company for the Applebees and iHop restaurant chains. Regardless of what you think of the restaurants or food, business must be good because DIN is one of the best performing restaurant stocks this year (+44%). It is clearly leading on the price charts and... READ MORE
Breakouts are bullish and often look great, but they do not always offer the best reward-to-risk ratio when taking a trade. As with so many aspects of technical analysis and trading, we must often walk the fine line between anticipation and confirmation. The first step to anticipating a breakout is... READ MORE
* When Higher Highs are Expected. * Small-cap Breadth Comes Alive. * Sector Table Remains Firmly Bullish. * ETF Leaders and Setups. * Art's Charts ChartList Update. ... When Higher Highs are Expected ... Let's review the weekly chart for the S&P 500 first. The index surged some 26% from late... READ MORE
* Strategy Recap. * RSI Signal Examples. * Aroon Signal Examples. * Testing the Individual Signals. * Selecting from Scan Results. ... Last week I showed a scan using RSI(65) and Aroon(65) to find stocks showing steady and consistent uptrends. Today I will backtest this scan on stocks in the S&P 500... READ MORE
The Consumer Staples SPDR (XLP) is the third best performing sector over the last three months and one of only three sector SPDRs to record a new high here in June (along with XLU and XLRE). In addition, the S&P 500 is trading comfortably above its 200-day SMA.... READ MORE
The S&P 500 hit a new high last week and the Health Care SPDR (XLV) broke out of a large symmetrical triangle with a big surge in June. The stock market is in bull mode and healthcare is coming alive. XLV was the worst performing sector from January... READ MORE
* S&P 500 Affirms Weight of the Evidence. * New Highs Expand Yet Again. * Sector Table Improves with Two Bullish Signals. * Healthcare and Technology Lead New High List. * What if you already Knew....? * Art's Charts ChartList Update. ... All Time High Means only One Thing ... The S&P... READ MORE
I featured GE in mid-May as it attempted to break out of a falling wedge (DITC on May 15th). The breakout failed as the stock fell back in May, but a higher low formed and a triangle evolved. Overall, some sort of bullish consolidation formed from February to June and... READ MORE
... As a trend-momentum kind of guy, my first task is to find stocks with strong uptrends and this starts with a scan. Chartists looking for scan ideas should first find several visually appealing price charts and then study these charts carefully. Stocks like Autozone (AZO), Gallagher (AJG), Abbot Labs (ABT)... READ MORE
It has been a rough three months for many biotechs and the Biotech iShares (IBB), but Illumina (ILMN) rose above the crowd with a big gain and three month high. The long-term chart also looks bullish. The table below shows the Biotech iShares and the top ten stocks (sans Celgene)... READ MORE
Many a pundit considers small-caps as the canaries in the coal mine and this implies that relative weakness in small-caps is negative for the broader market. As Missanei of Game of Thrones might say: It is known. Known, yes, but is it actually true? In the interest of full disclosure,... READ MORE
* The Long and Rocky Road. * S&P 500 Maintains Bullish Bias. * Index Breadth Table Improves. * MDY and IWM Break Out of Wedges. * Sector Breadth Table Gets Four New Signals. * Healthcare Perking Up. * Big Six Sectors Trigger Breakouts. * Utes, REITs and Staples Remain Strong. * Art's Charts ChartList Update.... READ MORE
* Long-term Uptrend Still Dominates. * SPY Holds Wedge Breakout and 50-day. * Biotech ETFs Firm in Reversal Zones. * Chinese ETFs Diverge. * Art's Charts ChartList. * On Trend on SCCTV and Youtube. ... Long-term Uptrend Still Dominates ... Let's break down the S&P 500 by starting with the bigger trend.... READ MORE
It has been a tough three months for most auto stocks with the Global Auto ETF (CARZ) falling around 1.22%. In contrast, the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) is up 4.21% since March 11th. Within the group, Ford (F) Daimler-Chrysler (DDAIF) and Toyota (TM) show gains during... READ MORE
Stocks moved sharply higher last week with several bouncing off broken resistance levels with gap reversals. JP Morgan is one such stock and last week's gap becomes the first area to watch going forward. The chart shows JPM breaking out in mid April with a surge to the... READ MORE
* Small-caps Still Lagging. * S&P 500 Establishes Clear Support Zone. * Breadth Falls Short and Fades. * $SPX Close + 200-day SMA = NOISE! * A Mixed, but Bullish, Indicator Table. * Sector Table Remains Firmly Bullish. * New Highs Surge within S&P 500. * New Highs in Finance Sector. * Medical Devices, Defense and Solar... READ MORE
Semiconductor stocks fell hard in May, but many software names held up quite well in May and simply consolidated. Accenture is one such name as the stock held above the breakout zone and simply consolidated the last five weeks. First and foremost, the long-term trend is up because Accenture (ACN)... READ MORE
* S&P 500 Crosses 200-day for Umpteenth Time. * The S&P 500 versus a Slew of Negative Charts. * Vietnam ETF Tests Breakout Zone. * Frontier Markets ETF Nears Breakout. ... There sure is a lot of negativity out there as the S&P 500 toys with its 200-day SMA.... READ MORE
May was a tough month for the broad market indexes and nine of the eleven sectors. Only the Utilities SPDR and Real Estate SPDR advanced in May as the other nine sectors fell. Stocks that closed higher in May bucked some serious selling pressure and could be worth a second... READ MORE