Is this bounce for real or just another dead-cat bounce? The Amex Airline Index ($XAL) hit the 62% retracement area in mid April and surged above the wedge trendline on Tuesday. Also notice that MACD formed a bullish divergence and moved above its signal line. Things are looking up... READ MORE
ARO Forms Dark Cloud at Resistance. GE Form Huge Bearish Engulfing. JPM Consolidates at Key Support. Plus APC,IMN,LMT,MSFT,RSH and UIS. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
It could be a big week for bonds. The Fed meets this week with a policy statement scheduled at 12:30PM ET. This is earlier than normal because Bernanke is holding a press conference later in the afternoon. Jeeze, like we don't have enough excitement already. So now... READ MORE
Even though stocks are up over the last 30 trading days, sector leadership leaves something to be desired. The Finance is badly lagging, while the materials and energy sectors are leading. Also notice that the healthcare and consumer staples show relative strength. Click this image for a live chart... READ MORE
On the daily chart, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is tracing out a clear inverse head-and-shoulders pattern over the last 2-3 months. The shoulders feature equal lows around 129.5 and the highs in the 133-134 area mark neckline resistance. Notice how the right... READ MORE
The predefined scans page at StockCharts.com is updated throughout the day. Checking just after the open is an easy way to spot early movers, both up and down. The runaway gap-up scan featured over 5 NYSE stocks and 16 Nasdaq stocks at 10:14AM ET. Among these runaway... READ MORE
The short-term trend is now up with a flag breakout and big gap. On the daily chart, an inverse head-and-shoulders is taking shape now that the right shoulder low has formed a reaction low near the left shoulder low. The neckline resistance zone resides around 133-134,... READ MORE
JNPR Surges off Retracement Zone. MBI Forges a Bear Trap. XRX Breaks Flag Resistance. Plus BBT, DF, ILMN, MBI, STT, TXN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 hammer and gap play is everywhere this week. It started with an intraday recovery on Monday and continued with a gap-surge on Wednesday. QLGC formed such a combo over the last three days and broke above the early April trendline. Click this image for a live chart... READ MORE
The bulls simply refuse to buckle. Despite a gap down on Monday and sharp decline Monday morning, stocks rebounded on Monday afternoon and continued strong on Tuesday. The ability to immediately recover should serve notice to the bears. QQQ formed a massive hammer on Monday and closed strong on Tuesday.... READ MORE
The S&P Sector Market Carpet provides a colorful snapshot of sector performance over a given timeframe. The screen grab below shows a 5-day Price Performance Market Carpet. Stocks in the materials sector are up an average of 1.7% the last five days (leading). Stocks in the... READ MORE
Before diving headfirst into some Elliott wave counts, please note that the overall trends take precedent. The overall trend on the daily chart (medium-term) remains up and the overall trend on the 60-minute chart (short-term) remains down. There are, at least, two Elliott counts possible on the... READ MORE
ADBE Maintains Tight Consolidation. AXP Challenges Resistance. PNRA Forms Bear Flag. Plus CRM,DHI,GERN and SHLD. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
Apple (AAPL) declined into its support zone with a close below 330 on Friday. After a weak open and further weakness early Monday, the stock moved higher and closed strong to firm a piercing line. This bullish candlestick reversal is featured on the predefined scans page. Also notice that volume... READ MORE
There are a few negatives working against the stock market right now. First, bonds have been rising and yields falling - even though inflationary pressures appear to be building. Despite gold and the Inflation Indexed Bond ETF (TIP) moving to new 2011 highs last week, normal bonds were also strong. The... READ MORE
The positive relationship between the Inflation Indexed Bond ETF (TIP) and the Gold SPDR (GLD) went through a rough patch in December-January, but got back on track the last two month. First, note that both remain in clear uptrends. The chart below shows TIP (red) and GLD (black) surging... READ MORE
Intuit (INTU), the maker of Turbo Tax Software, appears to like tax day. The stock broke above wedge resistance with a long white candlestick on Thursday and hit a 52-week high on Friday, April 15th. Click this image for a live chart... READ MORE
The indicator summary is weighed down by relative weakness in the Nasdaq and some key sectors. First, the Nasdaq has been underperforming the NY Composite since early January. Second, the Nasdaq AD Line and AD Volume Line are weaker than the NYSE AD Line and AD Volume Line. Third, the... READ MORE
SPY managed to open weak and close strong, but has yet to fill Tuesday's gap and reverse the short-term downtrend. For now, the island reversal remains in play and has yet to be proven otherwise. CCI continues to drift lower and has yet to turn up. I... READ MORE
After hitting the bullish engulfing scan on Tuesday, Time Warner is set to appear on the hammer scan for Thursday. The stock surged in February and then retraced around 50% with a decline to the 35 area. The stock has been firming in this area since mid March and a... READ MORE
The big trend on the daily chart is up as prices move from the lower left to the upper right. SPY became overbought after a big surge back to the February high and backed off this level the last four days. The ETF has actually closed lower five days in... READ MORE
ADBE Forms Tight Consolidation. DOX Breaks Wedge Resistance with Volume. PAYX Stalls Near Retracement Resistance. Plus ADM, GS, WCRX ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
For the second time in three months, Dell Inc (DELL) surged above 15 with big volume. The stock pulled back to broken resistance and bounced off support twice in mid March and early April. Today's big surge solidifies support and suggests that DELL has begun a bigger uptrend.... READ MORE
On the daily chart, SPY gapped above 132 on March 30th and gapped below this level on April 12th. Technically, an island reversal formed because the gaps match around 132. Combined with last week's bearish engulfing and resistance from the February high, this little breakdown could argue for... READ MORE
The Semiconductor HOLDRS surged at the beginning of last week, but hit resistance from the same retracement and plunged this week. The 62% retracement marked resistance in late March and again in early April. Today's gap down and trendline break are negative with a big support test at... READ MORE
There is not much change on the daily or 60-minute charts. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) continues to battle resistance from the February high. Since moving above 132 on April 1st, the ETF stalled with five indecisive candlesticks and then two black candlesticks on Friday-Monday. Notice... READ MORE
AAPL Hits Support Zone. AMGN Continues to Work Higher. BRCM Near Support and Key Retracement. Plus AMCC, ATML, EBAY, MS, SNE and USG ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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... READ MORE
Three Black Crows is a bearish candlestick reversal pattern with three black filled candlesticks. A candlestick is filled when the close is below the open. Despite this bearish pattern, volume remains relatively low and support from broken resistance is at hand. Click here to see our scan page with candlestick... READ MORE
On the daily chart, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) continues to battle resistance from the February high. Since moving above 132 on April 1st, the ETF stalled with five indecisive candlesticks and then a long black candlestick on Friday. Notice that a spinning top preceded Friday's... READ MORE
Some key intermarket relationships remain alive and well in 2011. First, commodities have been moving higher as the Dollar weakens. Second, bonds have been moving lower as commodities advance. Rising commodity prices increase inflationary pressures and this in turn puts pressure on bonds. Click this image for a live chart... READ MORE
While there are some discrepancies out there with various indicators, the weight of the evidence clearly favors the bulls. The NYSE AD Line hit a new high this week. Net New Highs expanded on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq. Small-caps are outperforming large-caps. Three of the five... READ MORE
Bonds are breaking down and this is bullish for stocks. Stocks and bonds have been inversely correlated for some time now. Even though US interest rates are rising, the Dollar is falling and this is putting a bid into commodities. Strength in stocks is also helping commodities. These two have... READ MORE
Bearish candlestick patterns marked the prior two reaction highs in Netflix and the stock formed an outside reversal on Wednesday. Strictly speaking, this is not bearish engulfing because Tuesday's candlestick is actually black. A bearish engulfing requires a white candlestick to be engulfed by a black candlestick. Therefore,... READ MORE
SPY is short-term overbought and at potential resistance from the February highs, but the overall trend remains up. In last night's Market Message, I pointed out that 15-day Chaikin Money Flow was negative despite a 7% surge the last 15 days. This is extraordinary. Yesterday I... READ MORE
AFFX Breaks Resistance with Surge. GCI Forms Bear Flag. RF Challenges Resistance. Plus AKAM, AVP, PHM, $SVU, SYK and X ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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)... READ MORE
After a dismal February and early March, Microsoft is making up for some lost ground with a surge over the last three weeks. The stock gapped up on Tuesday with above average volume and followed through above its late March high with a good gain on Wednesday. Click this image... READ MORE
There is not much change in the overall picture. Bond yields are in uptrends, Treasuries are in downtrends, the Dollar is weak, Gold is strong, Oil remains strong and Stocks are Strong. Even though some of these trends flatted over the last few days, they remain largely intact. The 10-... READ MORE
The Retail SPDR (XRT) surged to another 52-week high today with strength coming from the retail apparel group. Candleglance chart groups for over 50 industries can be found at the top of the third column on the FreeCharts page. This snapshot from the Retail-Apparel group shows Abercrombie &... READ MORE
AKS forms Rising Wedge. GOOG Returns to Broken Support. WMT Consolidates after Surge. Plus EBAY,GTIV,NVLS,TTWO and WGO. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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)... READ MORE
Clint Eastwood called this morning with a familiar question. Imagine the current uptrends speaking as Harry Calahan. Well, bear, do you feel lucky? Go ahead, bear, make my day. There is certainly a temptation to turn short-term bearish as SPY trades near resistance with overbought conditions. It is a... READ MORE