Market Recap for Thursday, December 22, 2016 Yesterday's action here in the U.S. had a short-term bearish tone to it, but there were certainly no price breakdowns and no reason to believe it was anything other than a bout of profit taking during a continuing bull... READ MORE
Applied Materials (AMAT) printed a shooting star candlestick on Thursday, with a long-term negative divergence in play on both its daily and weekly charts, signs of slowing momentum to the upside from both an intermediate- and long-term perspective. AMAT, just a few days ago, printed a reversing dark... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, December 21, 2016 Energy (XLE, +0.16%) was one of just two sectors that headed higher on Wednesday with materials (XLB, +0.4%) being the only other. That wasn't enough to carry the market higher as our major indices all finished fractionally lower on... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, December 20, 2016 Treasuries were sold off on Tuesday with the corresponding 10 year treasury yield ($TNX) moving back up to 2.57%. The recent high was 2.60% so the TNX is not far from another new high. Of course, the bounce in the TNX... READ MORE
Market Recap for December 19, 2016 Over the past three months, technology (XLK) has been the 6th best performing industry group, beating out only the three defensive groups - consumer staples (XLP), utilities (XLU) and healthcare (XLV). But the XLK is not in bad shape technically. Instead, we've simply... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, December 16, 2016 Utilities (XLU, +1.22%) soared on Friday and came very close to a breakout above reverse head & shoulders neckline resistance. This is also very near overhead trendline resistance as well. While we don't want to see the defensive utilities sector... READ MORE
Ryder System (R) was having a huge 2016 until the past several days. Profit taking has kicked in and R has dropped 10% in that brief span. The obvious question from a trader's perspective is.....when does it make sense to jump in on the long side. Well,... READ MORE
We're two weeks away from another stock market year in the books. Where does the time go? Anyhow, since this is the last ChartWatchers newsletter of 2016, it would be an appropriate time to check out the best and worst industry group awards for 2016. Drum roll please!... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, December 15, 2016 With treasury yields on the rise again, it wasn't surprising to see financials (XLF, +0.85%) on top of the sector leaderboard. The problem, however, is that we're beginning to see slowing price momentum on key industry groups - some... READ MORE
Healthcare stocks (XLV) have been underperforming the benchmark S&P 500 for the past 4-5 months, but they're beginning to show some life as the XLV has been the best performing sector ETF over the last week. Recently, I noticed pharmaceuticals testing a major price support... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, December 14, 2016 As expected, volatility kicked in around 2pm EST yesterday as the Fed delivered what traders most likely anticipated, but still didn't want to hear. Rates are going higher. Everyone was looking for the 25 basis point hike so that didn'... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, December 13, 2016 Well it's Fed day and both equity and bond markets are prepared for a quarter point rate hike. The big question, however, is whether the market is ready to hear what the Fed has to say about future policy guidance. Will... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, December 12, 2016 The Dow Jones advanced for the 21st time in the last 25 trading days on Monday, capturing yet another record high close on Monday. While it was led by mostly defensive areas like utilities, REITs and pharmaceuticals, offensive areas didn't exactly... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, December 9, 2016 Gains permeated our major indices on Friday, but it was difficult to overlook the flight to safety. Perhaps traders were just growing a bit more cautious after the huge run higher the past month or maybe it was big money knowing that the... READ MORE
The U.S. stock market has been flying high over the past month, but shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) have fallen close to 30% since reaching an all-time high in late September. Technically, there's hope that BUD is at or approaching a very significant bottom, however.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, December 8, 2016 The Dow Jones Transportation Average ($TRAN) finished higher once again on Thursday and has now risen more than 4% this week. In addition, the TRAN has climbed 16.7% since the close on November 4th. It's been an amazing run for... READ MORE
It took two months of consolidation, but Cabot Corp (CBT) finally pulled it off. It cleared neckline resistance in its inverse head & shoulders pattern at the 52.50 level. One of the keys of any continuation pattern is that it requires a prior trend in place to continue. CBT... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, December 7, 2016 Money poured into risk yesterday as global markets rallied in anticipation of strengthening economies worldwide. Here in the U.S., nearly every single industry group pushed higher, many of them 1%-2% higher or more. Significant leadership came in the form of consumer... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, December 6, 2016 I've been waiting to see if the German DAX would join the S&P 500 in breakout territory and, thus far, I'm getting my answer today with the DAX currently up 155 points, or 1.44%, this morning... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, December 5, 2016 Financials (XLF, +1.19%) were back on top of the sector leaderboard on Monday after taking a "lengthy" one day pause. It's been a crazy run for financial stocks and we're growing accustomed to the almost daily... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, December 2, 2016 Friday saw continuing bifurcation, but with this time the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 leading while the Dow Jones and S&P 500 lagged. Rotation wasn't all positive, however, as utilities (XLU, +0.91%) and consumer staples (XLP, +0.64%) led... READ MORE
I pulled up one month returns for all industry groups and there were several groups that have performed quite poorly over this period, despite the overall market strength. Toys ($DJUSTY) are down 6.78% over the last month, but a negative divergence on its weekly chart is likely the culprit.... READ MORE
I spend a great deal of time scouring the market and looking for interesting trade setups. It's quite often that I see a stock that I really like, but it's not at a price level where I'm ready to pull the trigger. If I... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, December 1, 2016 It was another very strange day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones finished the session Thursday with a gain of 68 points, closing at 19192 and another all-time high. The NASDAQ appeared to be trading in another world as technology was crushed,... READ MORE
Xilinx (XLNX) is a $13.5 billion semiconductor company and it nearly broke out of a very bullish inverse head & shoulders pattern on heavy volume today. But it didn't. Instead, it reversed lower along with most semiconductor stocks and tested its rising 20 day EMA. The technical... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 30, 2016 Crude oil ($WTIC) rose more than 9% on Wednesday and energy shares (XLE, +5.08%) were the beneficiary. Rising treasury yields also helped to lift the financial sector (XLF, +1.35%) with banks ($DJUSBK) storming to another high. But the bifurcation was quite... READ MORE
Note I'll be out for personal reasons on Wednesday so I'll not likely be able to post a blog article Wednesday morning. Also, the Bowley Briefing webinar, scheduled for Wednesday at noon EST, has been cancelled as well. I should be back in full swing Thursday.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 25, 2016 It was a shortened trading session on Friday, but that didn't stop the bulls. Our major indices all gapped higher and finished there as well. There was little volatility during the day as the S&P 500 spent most of... READ MORE
Renewable energy ($DWCREE) has been among the worst areas of the stock market to invest since topping over two years ago. There could be reason for hope, however, as rising crude oil prices ($WTIC) could trigger interest in the group again. There's a potential bottoming reverse head &... READ MORE
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, my article will be abbreviated today. I hope everyone is able to enjoy the long weekend with family and friends. I'll be back on Monday with my regular Trading Places blog article. Market Recap for Wednesday, November 23, 2016 It was another record... READ MORE
After a double top and nearly two years of downtrending price, American Express (AXP) has finally turned the corner and its stock price is rising. Based on improving volume trends, strengthening momentum, and a hot financial sector, I look for the recent price strength to continue. Check out the AXP... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 22, 2016 You can't keep the bulls down right now, it's that simple. Yesterday, leadership turned to consumer discretionary (XLY, +1.19%) and materials (XLB, +0.61%) as small caps led a surge that took all of our major indices to... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 21, 2016 It took months, but the S&P 500 finally did what bulls had been hoping for - it closed at an all-time high, breaking above the previous record of 2190. If there was one negative, it was that volume finished below its... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 18, 2016 Friday was mostly a day of profit taking - nothing horrible but down nonetheless. Energy (XLE, +0.41%) was able to avoid the downdraft and financials (XLF, +0.00%) broke even, but the other seven sectors finished down, led by healthcare (XLV, -1.06%... READ MORE
One of the best stock market stories of this century has been the remarkable growth of Starbucks (SBUX) and over the past five years, I can only point to one thing that slows the price appreciation. Coffee prices. That seems simple enough to understand, but the chart below brings it... READ MORE
The Russell 2000 is a small cap index and it had been lagging for quite awhile....until 2016. This year the Russell 2000 is wildly outperforming the S&P 500 and now we're heading into December, its most bullish calendar month of the year by far. Since... READ MORE
It's been downhill for a long time for CF Industries (CF), but finally its downtrend was broken and volume has been pouring into the stock at these lower prices. CF's short-term strength has taken it to a 50 week SMA test for the first time... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 17, 2016 U.S. stocks posted gains once again on Thursday, this time with the benchmark S&P 500 closing within a whisker of an all-time high. Strength came from all the right areas too with financials (XLF, +1.37%), consumer discretionary (XLY,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 16, 2016 Computer hardware ($DJUSCR) led a tech-fueled rally on Wednesday that resulted in bifurcated action in our major indices. The NASDAQ finished with a nice 0.36% gain while the Russell 2000 was flat and the Dow Jones and S&P 500... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 15, 2016 In my blog article yesterday morning, I pointed out that both crude oil ($WTIC) and internet stocks ($DJUSNS) hit significant price support. In the case of the WTIC, there was a big reversal in place that suggested we'd see continuing strength... READ MORE