Market Recap for Wednesday, December 6, 2017 It was a bifurcated day on Wall Street with the NASDAQ being lifted by an improving technology sector (XLK, +0.64), while a very weak energy group (XLE, -1.30%) put the brakes on both the Dow Jones and S&P 500.... READ MORE
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Market Recap for Monday, December 4, 2017 Recent bullish themes continued on Monday. Outperformance by the Dow Jones (+0.24%) and S&P 500 (-0.11%) overshadowed ugly relative performance from technology (XLK, -1.61%) and the NASDAQ (-1.05%). Even the riskier Russell 2000 index ($RUT, -0.30%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, December 1, 2017 An early selloff on Friday quickly became a buying opportunity as the bulls jumped back on board for what they hope will be another big upturn. All of our major indices ended the Friday session in negative territory, but the losses early in... READ MORE
I love to combine bullish seasonality with strong or strengthening technical conditions. As we move into December, it's important to realize that there has been no better month for the S&P 500 since 1950 than December, which has produced annualized returns of +19.51%. Also, December... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 30, 2017 It was another broad-based rally on Wall Street with traders ditching bonds and rushing into equities. The Dow Jones rallied 331.67 points to easily close above 24,000 for the first time in its history. The records just keep piling up. It... READ MORE
There's a renewed selling effort in U.S. treasuries and that's sending yields soaring. Bullish performance in small caps, transportation stocks (especially railroads), financials, industrials and consumer discretionary are painting a picture of a strengthening economy ahead and the selling of treasuries would certainly support that... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 29, 2017 One quick glance at the S&P 500's meager 1 point loss on Wednesday and you might assume that Wall Street meandered through another one of its boring days. But a deeper look will tell you that yesterday was anything... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 28, 2017 It was party day on Wall Street. The bullish environment accelerated into a much faster gear as all nine sectors advanced and the small cap Russell 2000 soared 23 points, or 1.53%, to a fresh new record with its most bullish historical... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 27, 2017 We saw bifurcated action in the major indices on Monday as the Dow Jones tacked on another 23 points after nearly closing above 23600 for the first time ever. Instead, the bulls had to settle for an all-time intraday high of 23638.92.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 24, 2017 Wall Street was only open for half a day on Friday, but that didn't stop the bulls' momentum as all the major indices closed at fresh all-time highs. Amazon.com (AMZN) and a host of semiconductor stocks led the advance... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 21, 2017 I am traveling for the Thanksgiving Day holiday, so today's article will be brief. I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your family and friends and please be safe. :-) It was a very bullish day on Wall Street... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 20, 2017 It had been awhile since financials (XLF, +0.46%) and industrials (XLI, +0.45%) were the top two performing sectors during a market session, but that's exactly what we saw on Monday. Welcome back! Both the XLF and XLI had serious... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 17, 2017 It was an interesting day on Friday. While most of our major indices struggled and finished in negative territory with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ falling 0.43%, 0.26% and 0.15%, respectively, the Russell 2000 continued its... READ MORE
Skechers (SKX) rallied approximately 40% after its most recent quarterly earnings report and Nike (NKE) has gone from 2017 lows to nearly a 2017 high in the past five weeks, highlighting a significant rally in the Dow Jones U.S. Footwear Index ($DJUSFT). The DJUSFT rallied 3.21% on Friday... READ MORE
I'm a big historian and a fan of the "history repeats itself" theory. But I'm a bigger fan of technical analysis where price action simply doesn't lie. You can listen to all the CNBC "hype" if you'd like,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 16, 2017 U.S. indices spiked sharply higher on Thursday's open in contrast to many recent days where the bulls have found themselves underwater in early action, trying to reclaim control of the action throughout the balance of the session. Yesterday, there wasn&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 15, 2017 Eight of nine sectors lost ground on Wednesday and while that, along with a couple major indices closing beneath their respective 20 day EMAs, might be cause for concern, I actually thought much of the action was bullish. First and foremost, the tech-heavy... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 14, 2017 For the third time in the last four days, we saw U.S. equities gap lower, only to reverse intraday to close near their highs of the session. It's still resulted in losses for the day, but it also shows the... READ MORE
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Market Recap for Friday, November 10, 2017 Generally speaking, I'm not a big fan of defensive areas leading the market to the upside. But I'll make an exception for last week. Consumer staples (XLP, +1.02%) was not only the clear leader on Friday, but it&... READ MORE
In September, Terex Corp (TEX) saw big volume accompany a breakout of a bullish rectangular consolidation phase. After weeks of trending higher, momentum began to slow and TEX printed a "death" candle - a shooting star on big volume to end the uptrend. If there's one... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 9, 2017 Energy (XLE, +0.30%) returned to the top of the leaderboard and this is what's likely to irritate the bears in the future. We now have another sector that's technical capable to take on new money as money rotates... READ MORE
While it would be great for the stock market to rise every day without any selling whatsoever, that's just not practical. As a trader, I await episodes of selling to set up much better reward to risk trades in stocks that remain in long-term uptrends. Enter PNC Financial... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 8, 2017 It was another day of records for most of our major indices with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all closing at their highest levels ever. Consumer staples (XLP, +1.09%) led the advance and I feature this group in... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 7, 2017 Small cap stocks felt a slight tremor on Tuesday as the Russell 2000 ($RUT, -1.26%) suffered its worst day in nearly three months. While losses never feel good, I believe the RUT is in a bullish advance similar to the one it... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 6, 2017 Energy (XLE, +2.29%) shares made a huge advance on Monday as money rotated to this once-forgotten sector in a very big way. Bull markets thrive on broad participation in rallies and the XLE had been one sector not participating. That is no... READ MORE
Special Notes First, please join me and Erin Swenlin for MarketWatchers LIVE every day from Noon EST to 1:30pm EST. We discuss key technical developments that you need to be aware of as you manage your wealth. Previously, MarketWatchers LIVE aired just three days a week, but beginning today,... READ MORE
IBM has been a very interesting stock to watch, but not to own. After 23 consecutive quarters of declining revenues, traders finally found something to be excited about in IBM's latest quarterly earnings report. Five years ago, IBM traded near 165. At Friday's close, it was... READ MORE
When considering this question, I believe the correlation indicator tells us most of what we need to know. After all, we're pondering which global market movements tend to be reflected in similar movements in the U.S. market. For purposes of the U.S. market, I'll... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 2, 2017 Financials (XLF, +0.94%) and industrials (XLI, +0.57%) led a Dow Jones rally on Thursday. Goldman Sachs (GS) paced the financial stocks in the Dow with more than a 1% gain, while Boeing (BA) was the best performing Dow component and the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 1, 2017 U.S. stocks jumped higher out of the gates at Wednesday's open, but was unable to hang onto those gains - especially on the NASDAQ. We did see a bit of strength in the final couple hours, though, after the FOMC... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, October 31, 2017 Don't look now, but crude oil prices ($WTIC) are on the verge of moving to a 2 1/2 year high. Energy (XLE, +0.33%) has shown life since ending its downtrend that began back in December 2016. Rising prices in... READ MORE
WellCare Group (WCG) posted quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street consensus estimates and the stock soared above recent price resistance. Volume surged as traders accumulated the healthcare provider. The Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Providers Index ($DJUSHP) broke out recently and WCG has performed exceptionally well on a relative... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, October 30, 2017 Weakness permeated the U.S. stock market on Monday with the small cap Russell 2000 losing more than 17 points, or 1.15%. Other U.S. indices mostly followed suit, although the NASDAQ gave back very little from Friday's massive gains... READ MORE
Special Note Every Monday, I provide possible short-term trade setups (today's featured setup is reflected below in the Monday Setups section). All of these setups, along with setups from the past few weeks, can be accessed by CLICKING HERE. If you'd like to review these setups... READ MORE
I'm a big fan of candlesticks, particularly reversing candlesticks as they many times signal that a short-term downtrend has ended in an overall uptrending stock. One of my favorite trading strategies is to trade strong stocks off gap support. So what happens when both strategies meet? Well, JD.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, October 26, 2017 U.S. indices spent Thursday attempting to bounce back from losses earlier in the week. Based on that goal, it was mostly a successful day as most major indices finished with fractional gains. The NASDAQ lagged, ending the session with a loss of... READ MORE
The Dow Jones U.S. Gold Mining Index ($DJUSPM) held price support on its late-September swoon, but that was not the case with the recent selling. The reason? It's probably the reverse head & shoulders breakout on the U.S. Dollar (UUP). A rising dollar normally sends gold... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, October 25, 2017 It's difficult to know what to expect after U.S. equities posted their largest decline since September 5th. I don't recall the last time we saw all nine sectors lower, but that's exactly what we saw on... READ MORE