Stocks are down sharply as of this writing, but there are a few bucking the trend with gains. Chartists can find such rogue stocks with the Sector Market Carpet. The green squares show the gainers and the top five are listed to the right. Starbucks is leading with break above... READ MORE
There appear to be some changes afoot in the intermarket arena that could have a negative effect on stocks. We already know about the surge in oil and commodity prices. With a sharp decline on Wednesday, the 10-year Treasury Yield ($TNX) failed to hold last week's surge and... READ MORE
CL Breaks Surges above Wedge Trendline. IMN Forms Bullish Consolidation. SPG Consolidates after Sharp Decline. Plus JNJ and LIFE. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all... READ MORE
CandleGlance charts provide a quick group snapshot. The screenshot comes from the S&P Sector SPDR CandleGlance group. Only four of the nine are shown. Click the image to see all. The Utilities SPDR (XLU) and the Healthcare SPDR (XLV) are clearly showing relative strength with a surge the... READ MORE
Even though the bulk of the short-term evidence has shifted to the bears, the bulls refuse to give way as the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) holds support. Four out of four breadth indicators moved below their bearish thresholds. RSI on the 60-minute chart plunged below 30 in late... READ MORE
There are 17 P&F related scans on the pre-defined scans page. Of the major patterns shown below, the first four patterns are bullish and the second four are bearish. Currently, there are over 250 stocks with bullish Triple Top Alerts and over 550 stocks with bullish Ascending Triple... READ MORE
With another day of selling pressure, the 10-day SMAs for the NYSE Net Advances ($NYAD) and NYSE Net Advancing Volume ($NYUD) moved below -100. These indicators now join the 10-day SMAs for Nasdaq Net Advances ($NAAD) and Nasdaq Net Advancing Volume ($NAUD) with bearish signals. Keep in mind that this... READ MORE
AA Forms Bearish Pennant. ANF Fails at Resistance, BBBY Forms Bearish Flag. Plus ANN, BAC, BBBY, GME, JCOM, MCHP, S and STEC 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
Stocks were broadly lower on Monday, but a few bucked the trend with gains. Simply scanning for stocks that gained on a day like today will reveal those showing some relative strength. The chart below shows Iron Mountain (IRM) hitting support from the October trendline and broken resistance zone. The... READ MORE
One must wonder how stocks can continue to gain in the current environment. Oil, gold and the Euro are going to the moon. Bonds broke down last week to signal a resumption of their long-term downtrend, which means interest rates are heading higher. Perhaps QE2 and the Fed's... READ MORE
The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is hitting resistance from last week's gap down, but may just find support from this week's gap up. The latest round of gaps started with a gap down from a new high on 22-February. The ETF rebounded later that... READ MORE
For the second time in two weeks, the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQQ) surged and met resistance from the 22-Feb gap. While failure at the gap is negative, the overall trend remains up as QQQQ battles the lower trendline of a rising price channel. Also note that Thursday's gap... READ MORE
Even though stocks may seem overbought and ripe for a correction, there are simply no signs of concerted selling pressure in the market right now. We saw a 3-4 day decline last week and a one day decline on Monday, but both were followed by sharp advances. As such, the... READ MORE
The bulls are simply not to be denied. Despite a gap down and sharp decline last week as well as a bearish engulfing on Monday, stocks firmed above last week's low and SPY surged above 133 on Thursday. This is why I look at an array of indicators... READ MORE
The S&P Sector Market Carpet provides an easy visual to identify the leaders and laggards over a given timeframe. Clicking on the sector name puts the focus on that sector. Hover over the squares to see the name, ticker and percent change. Robert Half (RHI), a new-school industrial... READ MORE
With a little firmness on Wednesday, we can draw a tentative trendline extending up from last week's low to form a volatile triangle over the last 8 trading days. Technically, the short-term trend is still up. SPY had a huge run the first three weeks of February and... READ MORE
ACI Forms Triangle. AEO Firms at Key Retracement. LOGI Consolidates After Breakout. Plus GILD,HAS,IGT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
A bearish engulfing forms when a long black candlestick engulfs the body of the prior white candlestick. This means the open is above the prior close and the close is below the prior open. It is a reversal day that can foreshadow lower prices. Costco formed such a pattern on... READ MORE
The 7-month streak of first day-of-month gains was broken on March 1st as stocks declined rather sharply. SPY surged to resistance around 132.5-133 on Monday and opened above 133.5 on Tuesday. This early gap did not hold as the ETF quickly reversed and moved sharply lower. Last week&... READ MORE
All sectors were down in afternoon trading on Tuesday, but some were down less than others. In particular, the Utilities SPDR (XLU), Consumer Staples SPDR (XLP) and Healthcare SPDR (XLV) were holding up relatively well with modest losses. Money can be seen moving out materials, consumer discretionary, finance, industrials and... READ MORE
The magical first day of the month is upon us. Among others, bespokeinvest.com notes that the S&P 500 has gained 14 of the last 16 times on the first day of the month. The last two down days were the first days of June and July 2010.... READ MORE
AA bounces on low volume. GOOG trades flat for 4 months. GS holds gap down. Plus AKS,F,ROL,RTN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 US Dollar Index ($USD) extended its losses on Monday with a decline below 77. After a two week fall, the index is near its early February low. This level may offer support, but the trend is clearly down after the failure at 79 and wedge break. The next real... READ MORE
On the 60-minute chart, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) firmed at support around 130 mid-week and bounced back above 132 on Friday. The 62% retracement and broken resistance marked this support zone. In addition, SPY was oversold and overbought $VIX suggested that stocks were ripe for a mean-reversion... READ MORE
The Coal Vectors ETF (KOL) has been stuck in a tightening trading range the last five weeks. After the sharp January decline, the ETF formed a triangle in February. As volatility decreased, the Bollinger Bands contracted to their narrowest range since early November, seen of a triangle breakout. Watch the... READ MORE
Despite a sharp decline in stocks this week, the indicator summary remains firmly positive. Don't forget that the major index ETFs, most sector SPDRs, the AD Lines and the AD Volume Lines all recorded new 52-week highs just last week. Such highs occur in big uptrends, not big... READ MORE
On the 60-minute chart, SPY continues to firm at support around 130. This support zone stems from broken resistance levels and a 62% retracement of the advance from the late January lows to the mid February highs. There have been a couple of bounce attempts in the last two days,... READ MORE
Delta Airlines (DAL) came across the bullish engulfing scan on the predefined scans page. The stock gapped lower and declined with heaving volume on Tuesday. This decline was countered with a bullish engulfing on Wednesday with even higher volume. The stock is stalling Thursday and needs to break the Wednesday&... READ MORE
On the 60-minute chart, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) hit the main support zone around 130 on Wednesday afternoon and bounced. This bounce does not look that strong though as stocks sold off in the final 30 minutes of trading. A strong bounce would have finished strong. With... READ MORE
BBY Hits Long-term Support Zone. CL Forms Triangle Consolidation. IMB Forms Bull Wedge. Plus MHS, RTH and T. This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all need to... READ MORE
It may seem a rather strange relationship, but the Nikkei 225 ($NIKK) and the 10-year Treasury Yield ($TNX) have a positive relationship working. The chart below shows both rising and falling together since November 2009. Despite a setback over the last few days, both remain in uptrends overall. John Murphy... READ MORE
On the 60-minute chart, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) hit its first support zone in the 131.5 area. This zone stems from the consolidation the second week of February. It is important to note that the gap down held and the ETF continued lower after the first... READ MORE
A 25-cent daily Point & Figure chart for HR Block ($HRB) captures price action all the way back to July 2009. These X's and O's show the stock moving lower throughout 2010 and firming towards yearend. 2011 has been better with a double top breakout last... READ MORE
Unrest in Libya is sparking the flight to safety trade in a big way. Libya produces around 1.8 million barrels of oil per day and accounts for a 2% of global output. Even though Saudia Arabia has around 3 million barrels of spare capacity, the market is concerned that... READ MORE
Except for natural gas, most major commodities and commodity groups are up sharply over the last 6-8 months. Stockcharts.com provides a broad range of Dow Jones-UBS commodity related indices. The PerfChart below shows seven commodity related indices and the 20+ year Bond ETF (TLT). Five represent major commodity groups.... READ MORE
The NYSE and Nasdaq most active lists are displayed on the Free Charts page and updated throughout the day. Seven of the ten most active on the NYSE were down in early trading on Friday. Seven of ten were up on the Nasdaq. Chartists can see charts for all ten... READ MORE
There is no change in the indicator summary. The AD Lines and AD Volume Line both surged to new 52-week highs this week. Major bearish reversals in the stock market are often preceded by bearish divergence in one or more of these indicators. With fresh 52-week highs, bearish divergences are... READ MORE
As you might expect, there is no change in the medium-term trend (daily chart) or short-term trend (60-minute chart). SPY is now up over 5% this month with gains on 11 of the last 14 days. In January, the index zigzagged higher with a choppy advance from ±125.5 to... READ MORE
Dow Theory is built on the concept of confirmation. The Dow Transports should confirm a higher high in the Dow Industrials and visa versa. Failure to confirm signals that something might amiss. The Dow Industrials has been forging new highs throughout the month and the Dow Transports just made it... READ MORE
On the daily chart SPY surged on 1-Feb with a gap and long white candlestick that closed above 130. The advance continued after this surge with a grind higher. We can see bigger surge-grind patterns starting with the early September surge and the early December surge (green dotted lines). There... READ MORE