Market Recap for Wednesday, August 10, 2016 U.S. stocks fell across all of our major indices on Wednesday (gasp!). Don't worry, it wasn't anything of technical significance. As I highlighted in the Current Outlook section below, the S&P 500 still remains poised for... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, August 9, 2016 It was another day of watching paint dry as the Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 gained 0.02%, 0.10%, 0.24% and 0.11%, respectively. The Dow Jones traded in a 70 point range and a final... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, August 8, 2016 It's summer time in the stock market, but you wouldn't know it by the action since June 27th. There's no doubt the rally has been strong, but most of the gains have occurred during the more bullish... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, August 8, 2016 Friday was a very solid day for the bulls and not just because the S&P 500 closed at all-time highs again. The part I liked the most was the leadership of the financial sector (XLF, +1.91%). The strength was apparent... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, August 4, 2016 Technology (XLK, +0.54%) has been the leading sector over nearly every short-term performance measure. Industry groups like internet ($DJUSNS), software ($DJUSSW), semiconductors ($DJUSSC) and electronic equipment ($DJUSAI) have all broken out and are performing exceptionally well vs. the S&P 500.... READ MORE
The Dow Jones U.S. Publishers Index ($DJUSPB) has broken a downtrend on its weekly chart and Dun & Bradstreet (DNB) is one of the best looking companies within this index. DNB posted revenues and EPS that bested Wall Street consensus estimates on Monday after the bell, then proceeded to... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, August 3, 2016 Strength returned in most areas of U.S. equities on Wednesday, but the gains were more pronounced in the Russell 2000, which rose 0.86%. Among the six sectors in positive territory, none was stronger than energy (XLE, +1.93%) where rebounding crude... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, August 2, 2016 There was no bifurcated action on Tuesday. There were no major indices threatening breakouts and eight of the nine sectors fell. Finally, the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 saw some much-needed profit taking after a long steady advance off their late-June lows. The S&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, August 1, 2016 Monday marked another day of mixed action. The NASDAQ continues to power forward, leading the action. Since July 14th, the NASDAQ has advanced more than 150 points or roughly 3%. During that same time frame, the S&P 500 has barely budged,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, July 29, 2016 Friday's end of month action was bifurcated with the Dow Jones lagging and posting a 0.13% decline. The other three major indices did manage to finish in positive territory with sectors finishing in that same bifurcated fashion. Energy (XLE, +1.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, July 28, 2016 The action on Thursday was different than what we've seen recently as investor focus seemed to turn to safety ahead of the GDP report and after the FOMC announcement on Wednesday. Consumer staples (XLP, +0.44%) and utilities (XLU, +0.39%... READ MORE
Chart Industries (GTLS) was mired in a downtrend for two years, shedding 90% of its market value, but things have changed and the upward momentum is quickly building for this equipment maker for the energy sector. They blew top and bottom line estimates out of the water and shareholders are... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, July 27, 2016 Crude oil ($WTIC) continues to remain under pressure with its fifth consecutive drop on Wednesday. Crude oil has now fallen nearly 20% since topping at $51.53 per barrel on June 8th. From a technical perspective, it shouldn't really be all... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Commercial vehicles & trucks ($DJUSHR) surged 3.34% on Tuesday, leading a rally in industrials (XLI, +0.83%) that once again sustained the advance in the benchmark S&P 500 despite weakness during the first couple hours of the trading session. The... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, July 25, 2016 It was a quiet session for most areas of the market. Consumer discretionary (XLY, +0.16%) was the only sector to finish in positive territory, but most of the other sectors lost fractional amounts and it did little to change their technical pictures... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, July 22, 2016 Utilities (XLU, +1.33%) surged on Friday to lead all nine sectors higher. All of our major indices also finished higher with most of the gains generated in the afternoon session as traders went home happy for the weekend. Many of the same... READ MORE
The summer months can be very difficult for U.S. equities, as history has proven over time. But there's always a bull market somewhere and the consumer electronics space seems to find a sweet spot in August. There are only two industry groups that average more than 5%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, July 21, 2016 Aggressive sectors took a break on Thursday, as did the overall market. The S&P 500 saw its most intraday weakness since breaking out above 2131 to all-time highs more than a week ago. Technically, however, there was little damage done. In... READ MORE
Actually, Encana (ECA) has broken two downtrends - a short-term trend and a long-term trend. ECA hit its all-time high of roughly 42.50 just before this bull market began. Shareholders of ECA haven't seen much bullish action since this seven year bull market began, but technically things... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, July 20, 2016 Technology (XLK, +1.31%) had another huge day on Wednesday as consumer electronics ($DJUSCE) and software ($DJUSSW) paced the advance. It didn't hurt that biotechs ($DJUSBT) were up more than 1.50%, leading healthcare to outsized gains as well. But let&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, July 19, 2016 The Dow Jones managed to close at another all-time high on Tuesday despite seven of nine sectors falling. Most of the weakness, however, was confined to materials (XLB, -0.59%) and energy (XLE, -0.56%). None of the other sectors fell more than... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, July 18, 2016 The action on Monday was led by the NASDAQ's 0.52% gain with technology (XLK, +0.67%) pacing the advance. One bullish piece of technical news within the technology space was the breakout of internet stocks ($DJUSNS), which gained 2.0%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, July 15, 2016 It was another day of bifurcation on Friday as the Dow Jones and Russell 2000 were able to eke out gains while both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ finished in negative territory. Similar bifurcation was found among sectors with materials (XLB,... READ MORE
Prior to the opening bell on Tuesday, Fastenal (FAST) confessed to below consensus revenues and EPS, normally a big problem for a stock. Sure enough, FAST fell approximately 4% on the open Tuesday, providing short sellers a quick profit. The problem, however, is that FAST is trading within a multi-year... READ MORE
Note: I will be traveling this weekend and unable to post here in my Trading Places blog on Friday. I hope everyone has a great weekend! Back on Monday! Market Recap for Wednesday, July 13, 2016 The bullish run that began on June 28th continues despite Wednesday's pause.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, July 12, 2016 Energy (XLE, +2.48%) resumed its leadership role in a big way on Tuesday as rising crude oil prices ($WTIC) and a bullish pattern on the U.S. dollar provided energy bulls all they needed to send the XLE to its highest close... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, July 11, 2016 Despite all the reasons for being cautious at this stage of the current seven year bull market rally, nothing is more important than simple price action and yesterday the S&P 500 did what it had never done before - it closed... READ MORE
Special Notes Beginning today, I will be providing a "Monday setups" section every Monday, offering up potential trading candidates and technical reasons for possible entry. Please do your own due diligence - both technically and fundamentally - before you decide to trade any of these candidates. They will... READ MORE
Devry, Inc. (DV) topped at close to 50.00 during the fourth quarter of 2014 and it has spent the last 18 months declining steadily until reaching what now appears to be a bottom just above 15.00. A positive divergence has emerged on its weekly MACD and volume trends... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, July 7, 2016 Energy (XLE, -1.02%) was weak on Thursday as crude oil prices ($WTIC) tumbled 5.64% to lose near-term price support in the 46.00-46.50 range. Crude oil also lost both 20 day EMA and 50 day SMA support, both of which... READ MORE
Over the past year, United Parcel Service (UPS) has gained 13.77% while FedEx Corporation (FDX) has lost 9.80%. Relative strength between these two air delivery and freight services companies has gone back and forth over the last decade, but currently UPS has the upper hand and is the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, July 6, 2016 Bulls do not give up easy. Yesterday was a perfect example. Global indices have rolled over and have been struggling mightily this week, especially the key German DAX ($DAX). Brexit fears seemed to be building once again and the S&P 500... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, July 5, 2016 Tuesday represented a down day and a much-needed day of profit taking after the post-Brexit rebound, right? Well maybe. But if my pattern-seeking eyes are correct, the Russell 2000 may have just printed the right shoulder in a bearish topping head & shoulders... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, July 1, 2016 Bull markets do the unthinkable and last week was a perfect example. After Brexit, which seemed to confirm global stock markets' worst fear, we saw a very sudden drop in equity prices around the world and a surge in the Volatility Index... READ MORE
Over the past six months, the Dow Jones U.S. Pipelines Index ($DJUSPL) has gained 25.03% and has been among the best performing industry groups. But it hasn't been favorable for all pipeline stocks as Williams Companies (WMB) can attest. While its peers have risen 25%, WMB... READ MORE
Here we go again. It seems as though every time the S&P 500 challenges the 2100 level and its all-time high close (2131), another aggressive area of the market falls apart and the rally is not sustainable. Below is a two year weekly chart of the S&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, June 30, 2016 Over the past week - since Brexit - the S&P 500 has lost a mere 15 points because of the sizable rally enjoyed over the past three trading days. That's roughly a 0.75% loss. The NASDAQ, on the... READ MORE
There's a potential bottoming reverse head & shoulders pattern in play on Western Digital's (WDC) three year weekly chart as it attempts to clear its downtrend on its SCTR. All of this comes on the heels of printing a positive divergence on its MACD. This alone... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, June 29, 2016 U.S. equities rallied strongly on Wednesday, following the lead of global indices as the shock of Brexit begins to wear off. The German DAX ($DAX) was able to close at its highest level since Brexit, clearing the 9557 close the day after... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, June 28, 2016 Much technical damage has been inflicted over the past few trading days. So the obvious question is "how long might this current rally last?" We cleared the first technical hurdle when the S&P 500 yesterday closed back above 2025... READ MORE