When does a short-term decline extend far enough to have medium-term or long-term consequences? That is the big question right now. As far as I can tell, the May decline has yet to do enough technical damage to change the medium-term outlook (2-6 months). As the indicator summary shows, the... READ MORE
And now for the employment report... There is not much to do but wait for the market's reaction to the jobs number. On the daily chart, SPY is trading within a falling channel. The last reaction high formed with a hanging man and long black candlestick. This is... READ MORE
Despite yesterday's sharp decline, a number of stocks bucked the selling pressure by gaining on the day or forming bullish candlestick patterns. Cornerstone OnDemand ($CSOD), which debuted on March 17th, formed a bullish engulfing and gained on Wednesday. Follow through above resistance would confirm this pattern. Click this... READ MORE
CVX Forms Bearish Wedge. ILMN Bucks the Selling Pressure. NVSL Forms Shooting Star. Plus ADSK, INTU, STX, XOM *********************************************** This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all need to... READ MORE
The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) surged above the wedge trendline with a four day advance and then gave it all back in one day. Wednesday's decline was broad-based with the most negative breadth since March. This decline signals the start of an extended decline or a... READ MORE
There are over 200 stocks across the various exchanges on Wednesday's bearish engulfing scan. From the NYSE, FedEx (FDX) formed a bearish engulfing on the first day of the month in both May and June. Wednesday's big bearish engulfing occurred on expanding volume. Click this image... READ MORE
The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) made it four in a row with a surge and trendline breakout on Tuesday. SPY opened strong, dipped intraday and surged at the close. A hanging man candlestick formed with a small body and long lower shadow. These are potentially bearish candlestick reversal... READ MORE
Google ($GOOG) has been trending lower since mid January, but support may be at hand in the 515 area. Broken resistance and the 62% retracement combine to mark support here. Also notice that RSI has a bullish divergence working the last few weeks. Click this image for a live chart... READ MORE
GOOG Hits Retracement Support. JBLU Forms Higher Low. NWSA Challenges Resistance with Ascending Triangle. Plus BBT, EXPD, LINTA, UAL. *********************************************** 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... READ MORE
With a three day bounce last week, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is poised to challenge the upper trendline of the falling flag/wedge. The ETF opened strong on Friday and then stalled the rest of the day to form a doji type candlestick denoting indecision. A little... READ MORE
A basic tenet of technical analysis is that broken resistance turns into support. Biadu broke two resistance levels and these combine to form a support zone. With the stock firming the last two week, watch for a bounce above the mid May high to reverse the May slide. Click this... READ MORE
There are areas of weakness in the stock market, but the bulk of the evidence remains bullish. The Nasdaq AD Line broke below its April low, but the NYSE AD Line remains in a clear uptrend. SPY momentum was downgraded to bearish as MACD(5,35,5) moved into negative... READ MORE
SPY followed through on the doji and piercing pattern with another modest gain on Thursday. The ETF closed up a mere .46%, but the white candlestick was once again rather long as SPY opened weak and closed fairly strong. So far, this looks like an oversold bounce within a downtrend... READ MORE
With a gap down, three day stall and gap up, Microsoft (MSFT) forged a bullish island reversal. Technically, the high of the 3-day consolidation is 24.31 and today's low is 24.32. The gap zone is one cent. Nevertheless, the essence of a island reversal is there.... READ MORE
There is no real change on the charts as SPY continues to firm after Monday's gap down. The ETF formed a doji on Monday, which indicates indecision. After a weak open on Wednesday, SPY recovered and closed above 132 to form a white candlestick that closed above the... READ MORE
AAPL Hits Support Zone. APOL Breaks Support. SCMR Forms Large Bullish Engulfing. Plus APA,APC,CCI,DNR,EXP,IPG,PLCE,SCMR. *********************************************** 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
Renko charts filter out the noise by requiring minimum price moves before the plot changes. This Renko chart shows the Dow Industrials SPDR (DIA) based on closing prices with 50 cents as the minimum move. A clear decline has taken shape in May with resistance at 125. Click this image... READ MORE
After recording a fresh 52-week high four weeks ago, SPY declined in May and formed a falling flag or wedge. First, 52-week highs occur in uptrends, not downtrends. Second, SPY remains above the mid April reaction low and has yet to forge a lower low. Downtrends require lower lows. Third,... READ MORE
F5 Networks (FFIV) first broke below its 50-day SMA in January and then its 200-day moving average in March. The stock recovered with a break back above the 50-day in May, but has yet to reclaim the 200-day. The next moving average to break could hold the key to the... READ MORE
With big gaps and sharp declines, the major index ETFs became oversold within short-term downtrends. This is a tricky situation because the medium-term trends (daily charts) remain up. The May decline, while sharp, is still viewed as a correction within a bigger uptrend. Picking the bottom for this correction is,... READ MORE
AKAM Forms Island Reversal. MON Bucks the Market with a Breakout. QCOM Consolidates above Breakout. Plus FLEX,PHM,SLB,TEVA,$TNX,USL,WNR. *********************************************** This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or... READ MORE
The PerfChart shows the year-to-date performance for six European stock indices. Surprisingly, the Italian Milan Index ($MIB) is the best performing. Germany is a close second though. It is also surprising to see the Netherlands Index ($AEX) down for the year and showing relative weakness. Click this image for a... READ MORE
The Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) broke support with a sharp decline and broken support turned into resistance over the last few days. After hitting resistance last Thursday, the ETF turned lower on Friday. Even though Friday's decline was modest, a clear reaction high formed with resistance in the... READ MORE
After getting slammed with a 10+ percent decline in May, the Gold Miners ETF (GDX) hit support and bounced over the last few days. As the chart below shows, this is no ordinary support level for GDX. Support in the 53 area stems from broken resistance and at least two... READ MORE
The consumer discretionary sector is seeing serious red over the last two days. The S&P Sector Carpet shows 2-day price performance for various stocks in the nine sectors. Four of the five weakest stocks come from this most economically sensitive sector. Namely, retailers were weak the last two... READ MORE
The indicator summary remains firmly positive, but downgrades in momentum and continued weakness in Nasdaq breadth are a concern. Even though SPY hit a 52-week high in April, RSI did not exceed 70 and failed to confirm strength. Also notice that 20-day Aroon for SPY dipped below -50 this week.... READ MORE
QQQ is at its make-or-break point for this oversold bounce. The ETF moved back into the broken support zone, which turns into resistance. There is also resistance in the 58.25 area from the 62% retracement cluster. The pink trendline marks the rate of ascent over the last two days.... READ MORE
With a strong open and decline into the close, Dollar General (DG) is set form a bearish engulfing pattern with a long upper shadow. This is the third such pattern in the last two months. Watch the trendline extending up from the March low for a break to confirm this... READ MORE
Looking the daily chart for SPY, I am struck by the fact that 14-day RSI did not reach overbought levels in late April or early May. The surge from the mid March low to the early May high was quite strong. SPY advanced over 8% in 6-7 weeks. Despite such... READ MORE
Charts of Interest: AMAT Tests Key Support Level. ETR Forms Flag After Gap. GOOG Forms Large Bullish Engulfing. Plus PMCS, TKC and UBS. *********************************************** 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
With a 6.5% decline from its April high, the Shanghai Composite ($SSEC) has been one of the weaker world indices this spring. Despite relative weakness, the index is trying to firm in a support zone that centers around the 62% retracement. Last week's high marks the first... READ MORE
The Gold SPDR (GLD) is at support and looks ripe for an oversold bounce. The mid April trendline, broken resistance and the early May spike low mark support in the 144 area. A falling channel defines the short-term downtrend. Look for a surge off support for the first bullish sign.... READ MORE
American Science and Engineering ($ASEI) broke support at the beginning of May, but the bulls are not giving up easily as the stock formed at least four really long white candlesticks since then. A long white or hollow candlestick indicates that the close is above the open. These candlesticks reflect... READ MORE
Most of the action on Monday took place outside of the S&P 500 ETF (SPY). In particular, the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) broke support with a sharp decline led by large-cap tech stocks. Apple (AAPL) and Google were down over 2% and Amazon (AMZN) was down almost 5%... READ MORE
FAST Forms Tight Triangle. HD Nears Support Zone. STT Stalls at Key Retracement. Plus ANF, MAS, SBUX This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all need to think... READ MORE
The Steel ETF (SLX) traced out a double top with two relatively equal highs this year. The intermittent low formed in March to mark key support for this pattern. SLX closed right at this low on Friday for an important test. A break below this level would confirm the double... READ MORE
Today we will just go straight to the 60-minute charts to review the current consolidations in the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ), Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) and S&P 500 ETF (SPY). Stocks became overbought after surging from mid April to early May. These overbought conditions were worked off with... READ MORE
Of the five broad market indices, the Amex is the weakest due to declines in energy related shares this month. The Amex is heavily weighted towards the energy sector. The NY Composite ($NYA) is the second weakest index. $NYA is heavily weighted towards the finance sector, which has also been... READ MORE
Some signs of weakness are creeping into the market, but the bulk of the evidence remains bullish at this point. The major index ETFs recorded 52-week highs in April, the NYSE AD Line hit a 52-week high this week and the Nasdaq AD Volume Line is challenging its February high.... READ MORE
There is no change on the daily chart, which remains in an uptrend overall. SPY broke a resistance zone and this zone turned into a short-term support zone. So far, the support zone is holding as the ETF bounced off the 133-134 area twice in the last two weeks. Clearly,... READ MORE