Stericycle (SRCL) has been under rather intense selling pressure over the past 16 months, losing half its market cap. The waste management company disappointed Wall Street on several occasions and we've seen major gap downs on heavy volume three times over those 16 months. The stock seems to... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 15, 2017 Healthcare (XLV, +1.08%) resumed its leadership role but relative performance in this sector has been quite weak since the summer. Below is a chart that shows a ratio of the XLV to the S&P 500. If you've been... READ MORE
I'll return tomorrow morning with my regular Trading Places article with all the normal features. Today I simply want to point out two component stocks in the NASDAQ 100 ($NDX) that look very bullish to me. The first is Costco (COST). Basing patterns that finally breakout can lead... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, February 13, 2017 Recent leadership from financials (XLF, +1.14%) and industrials (XLI, +1.00%) appears to be resuming as these two groups led the benchmark S&P 500 to fresh all-time highs on Monday. The last week has been very strong for U.S.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 10, 2017 Materials (XLB, +0.91%) and industrials (XLI, +0.79%) led yet another rally in U.S. equities on Friday as the Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ, NASDAQ 100 and the Russell 2000 all established new all-time closing highs. The small cap... READ MORE
After long basing periods, breakouts can be very significant technical events that lead to powerful gains. Those invested in or trading Costco (COST) are hoping last week's breakout signals a nice advance in the months ahead. Three months ago, COST bulls successfully defended key price support and the... READ MORE
Special Note Greg Schnell (author of The Canadian Technician blog) and I will be co-hosting a special webinar tomorrow at 11am EST. I'll discuss trading strategies with respect to gaps created by earnings reports while Greg's discussion will focus on his outlook for biotech stocks. Greg... READ MORE
Mohawk Industries (MHK), a flooring designer and manufacturer, just reported quarterly earnings that exceeded Wall Street consensus estimates. The initial reaction in after hours is very bullish as MHK has been consolidating in sideways fashion for the better part of a year and the after hours price would constitute a... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 8, 2017 The 10 year treasury yield ($TNX) has dropped back toward the lower end of its 2-3 month trading range from 2.30% to 2.60%, closing on Wednesday at 2.35%. That apparently has been enough to spark utilities (XLU, +0.98%) as... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 7, 2017 The Dow Jones moved into blue sky, all-time high territory intraday on Tuesday as it touched 20155. If there was any bad news, it's that the move didn't hold into the close as the Dow came up 10 points... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, February 6, 2017 Please be sure to subscribe to my blog at the bottom of this article and all of my articles will be sent to your e-mail address as soon as they're published. Thanks! :-) It's noteworthy to point out that... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 3, 2017 Financials (XLF, +2.02%) had another huge day with consumer finance, investment services and banks leading the charge. The former had been struggling with a negative divergence over the past couple months while remaining in an uptrend. But just after testing its 50... READ MORE
Exercising patience and discipline to enter trades at appropriate reward vs. risk levels is obviously very important to any trader's success, but planning trades before they set up is just as important. Let me give you a few examples. First, let's take a look at Cullen... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, February 2, 2017 Defensive stocks were once again at the forefront of U.S. stock market action on Thursday with utilities (XLU, +1.06%) and consumer staples (XLP, +0.92%) easily the best two sectors on the session. Over the past week, healthcare (XLV, +2.79%... READ MORE
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was one of the best performing stocks in 2016 and the bullish pattern that's printed in the first five weeks of 2017 suggests the rally hasn't ended just yet. One bearish development today was that AMD broke out above its late December... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 1, 2017 U.S. equities staged a recovery on Wednesday after a recent bout of profit taking, but the recovery could've been much stronger after a very solid open. The NASDAQ jumped 40 points at the open after Apple (AAPL) posted results well... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, January 31, 2017 It was a second day of rotation into defensive stocks as leadership came from healthcare (XLV, +1.60%), utilities (XLU, +1.55%) and consumer staples (XLP, +0.48%). Unfortunately, all of the aggressive sectors were lower and that kept a lid on overall... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, January 30, 2017 It was most definitely a day of profit taking across U.S. equities on Monday. All of our major indices finished lower, although an afternoon rally did cut into some of the earlier losses. Still, the Russell 2000 was hit hardest and finished... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, January 27, 2017 Last week was a milestone week for U.S. equities as the Dow Jones closed above 20000 for the first time in its history and the S&P 500 tagged 2300 for the first time as well. But that doesn't... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, January 26, 2017 It was another bifurcated day on the U.S. stock market Thursday as the Dow Jones was able to muster up another gain after piercing the psychological 20000 level on Wednesday. It was a small gain and it wasn't mirrored by... READ MORE
I am always aware of typical historical strength that lies ahead. Along those lines, it's important to note that the Dow Jones U.S. Travel & Tourism Index ($DJUSTT) has been the fourth best industry group in terms of February performance. priceline.com (PCLN), a component of this... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, January 25, 2017 The Dow Jones kept searching for a catalyst to finally break that psychological 20000 barrier and it came in the form of a one-two punch from transports ($TRAN, +1.43%) and financials (XLF, +1.67%) that left no doubt about the strength of... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, January 24, 2017 The S&P 500 and NASDAQ both closed at new all-time highs on Tuesday as basic materials (XLB, +2.58%) soared. Freeport-McMoran (FCX) was huge performer in the group and FCX is featured below in the Sector/Industry Watch section. But other... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, January 23, 2017 Materials (XLB, +0.20%) and technology (XLK, +0.18%) were the leading sectors on Monday as our major indices traded in negative fashion throughout the day. The finish, however, was fairly strong as the S&P 500 finished in the upper end... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, January 20, 2017 Basic materials (XLB, +0.89%) led yet another U.S. stock market rally on Friday as the Dow Jones gained close to 100 points to once again approach what could become its first all-time closing high above 20000. After Friday's gain,... READ MORE
My favorite kind of stocks are those that advance and then base for an extended period of time before breaking out. The consolidation period rids the stock of weak holders, providing a much better foundation for a sustainable rally. Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP) fits the bill after reacting quite... READ MORE
There haven't been too many areas of the market that have performed worse than retail stocks over the past month. While the NASDAQ 100 ($NDX) has jumped to record highs over the past month, weak retail stocks in that index like Dollar Tree (DLTR), Walgreens (WBA), O'... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, January 20, 2017 The industrial sector (XLI, +0.73%) was the only sector to finish in positive territory as railroads ($DJUSRR) broke out on massive volume Thursday. CSX Corp (CSX) soared more than 23% after Canadian Pacific's (CP) CEO Hunter Harrison announced he was... READ MORE
I wrote about Fastenal (FAST) in this blog just two weeks ago. This is a stock that had been in a sideways consolidation pattern for many years after a prior uptrend. So I was looking for the next breakout. However, when a stock consolidates for years, you want to see... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, January 18, 2017 Financials (XLF, +0.83%) were back on track Wednesday as mortgage finance ($DJUSMF), life insurance ($DJUSIL), investment services ($DJUSSB) and banks ($DJUSBK) led the equity charge. It was a bifurcated day with the Dow Jones retreating, but the S&P 500, NASDAQ... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, January 17, 2017 Money rotated towards defense on Tuesday as our major indices saw a day of profit taking. The small cap Russell 2000 was hit particularly hard, dropping 1.44%. But all of the key indices were lower as the banks' failure to break... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, January 13, 2017 Friday may have seemed like a ho-hum kinda day as the Dow Jones actually finished with a loss for the session. But there was significant strength in both the more aggressive NASDAQ and Russell 2000, not to mention that the four sector leaders... READ MORE
Banks threatened another breakout on Friday before stalling and dropping after an early morning surge higher. Bank of America (BAC) credited higher interest rates for its earnings beat Friday morning and said it was anticipating significantly higher net interest margins in 2017. So how much higher will the 10 year... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, January 12, 2017 Healthcare (XLV, +0.10%) and utilities (XLU, +0.08%) finished in positive territory and provided sector leadership on Thursday, but the remaining sectors and all of our major indices finished the day in negative territory. Financial stocks (XLF, -0.85%) performed worst as... READ MORE
Stryker Corporation (SYK), a medical technology company, preliminarily reported their latest quarterly results and indicated they'd be ahead of expectations. That announcement resulted in a gap up and breakout above previous price resistance on Wednesday. Over the past couple days, we've seen a bit of selling... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, January 12, 2017 The U.S. Dollar Index ($USD) fell for the fourth time in the past six trading sessions after sideways consolidating for a couple weeks prior. This hesitation and recent profit taking has provided fuel for a rebound in gold ($GOLD) and silver ($SILVER)... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, January 10, 2017 It was another bifurcated market day on Tuesday, but under the surface there was much more bullishness than on Monday. For one, six sectors rose instead of one. Secondly, all of the aggressive sectors gained ground, led by industrials (XLI, +0.42%) and... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, January 9, 2017 Dow 20k watchers were left hanging another day as the NASDAQ was the only major index to gain ground on Monday. And speaking of lone leaders, healthcare (XLV, +0.42%) was the only sector to post a gain as falling crude oil prices... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, January 6, 2017 Let's party like it's 1999.....9. Do you think that big round numbers don't matter on Wall Street? If so, you might want to think again. Since December 13th, the Dow Jones ($INDU) has traded above 19950... READ MORE
I've been writing relentlessly about the relative strength in energy shares (XLE) over the past several months and here I go again. Go ahead and talk about too much supply. Hang onto the weakening demand argument if you'd like. I'm simply following the charts... READ MORE