The S&P 500 continues to battle overhead price resistance that's been well established since closing at its all-time high on May 21, 2015. While a bullish advance typically requires strong and wide participation from many sectors and industry groups, there's one that I&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, June 1, 2016 Consumer staples (XLP, +1.03%) surged higher on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the other sectors didn't get the memo. Seven of the nine sectors did finish higher, but healthcare (XLV, +0.36%) was a distant second and the two sectors finishing in the... READ MORE
Note Today's article will be very brief with a recap of Tuesday's action. I'll return to my normal time and format on Wednesday. If you'd like to receive all of my blog articles the moment they're published, please scroll to... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, May 27, 2016 On a 10 minute chart, the S&P 500 bounced off its 50 period SMA and surged into the close, finishing near the 2100 level once again. Here's the latest intraday look at our benchmark index: The attempt at clearing... READ MORE
The Dow Jones U.S. Exploration & Production Index ($DJUSOS) is 39% higher since its January low and two mid-cap stocks that are outperforming include $4 billion QEP Resources (QEP) and $2.9 billion WPX Energy (WPX). They have both been overbought recently and now have printed negative divergences,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, May 26, 2016 Utilities (XLU, +1.13%) and consumer staples (XLP, +0.40%) are two defensive groups and they led the market action on Thursday. I'd be more concerned if these two groups led a significant breakout. But given that three of our four... READ MORE
SunTrust Banks (STI) looks very bullish on a longer-term weekly chart, awaiting a critical technical breakout. But on its daily chart, there are signs of slowing momentum and overbought conditions as price resistance nears. So what's a trader to do? Well, let's look at the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Energy (XLE, +1.58%), materials (XLB, +1.23%) and financials (XLF, +1.06%) were the three sectors that gained more than 1% on Wednesday as the U.S. stock market rally extended to almost a week. The S&P 500 climbed to... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, May 24, 2016 Tuesday was one of the best days of 2016. Technically, the jump in our major indices was large with the Russell 2000 and NASDAQ leading the charge with gains of 2.15% and 2.00%, respectively. Our four aggressive sectors performed extremely well... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, May 23, 2016 Despite seven of nine sectors finishing lower, the major U.S. indices managed to close near the flat line due to strength in basic materials (XLB, +1.17%). Consumer staples (XLP, +0.10%) was the only other sector in positive territory at the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, May 20, 2016 Applied Materials (AMAT) posted excellent quarterly earnings results on Thursday after the closing bell and that lifted semiconductors ($DJUSSC, +3.0%) on Friday. Technology (XLK, +1.21%) in general performed exceptionally well, leading all sectors. AMAT cleared short-term price resistance at the... READ MORE
A little more than three weeks ago, a very small $435 million semiconductor company reported quarterly EPS that nearly tripled Wall Street consensus estimates. Quarterly revenues also beat estimates by roughly 3%. That combination sent Nanometrics (NANO) soaring on April 27th, at one point up 20% on the session. NANO... READ MORE
The Dow Jones U.S. Defense Index has been annihilating its competition for the past few years. It's very clear if you take a look at a longer-term relative performance chart. Check this out: This is an interesting chart. During the bear market from 2007 to 2009,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, May 19, 2016 Utilities (XLU, +1.01%) and consumer staples (XLP, +0.98%), two defensive sectors, easily outdistanced all of the other sectors with respect to Thursday performance. So while the save of price support across all of our major indices was nice, keep in mind... READ MORE
Dorman Products (DORM) touched price support near 51.00, which is technically significant as DORM has been trading in a continuation pattern for the past several weeks and 51.00 has marked flag support. There was a prior uptrend (flag pole) in play off the February low and DORM longs... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, May 18, 2016 It was an interesting day on Wall Street on Wednesday. Once the FOMC minutes were released at 2pm EST, traders panicked as the Fed signaled the possibility of a June interest rate hike. They said what they've been saying, that a... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, May 17, 2016 The wishy-washy, back and forth, yo-yo action continued on Tuesday as Monday's gains were completely erased by Tuesday's close. The culprits? Well, eight of the nine sectors finished lower after all nine rose on Monday, but the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, May 16, 2016 Monday saw a very solid advance across the board, but clearly was led once again by materials (XLB, +1.72%) and energy (XLE, +1.69%). These two sectors were not only the leaders yesterday, but they also represent the top two performing sectors... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, May 13, 2016 I suppose it's only fitting that all of our major indices close beneath their 50 day SMAs simultaneously for the first time on Friday the 13th. The NASDAQ has been trading beneath its 50 day SMA for the past several trading... READ MORE
Not many stocks have been spared the past few weeks as our major indices have trended lower. Huntsman Corp (HUN) doubled in a little more than two months, but became very overbought in late April. Since that time, HUN has fallen 15% and its overbought oscillators have seen relief with... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, May 12, 2016 Defensive. That's the best way to describe it. With consumer stocks, traders are choosing staples. If it's a question of transportation vs. utilities, it's really not a question. Utilities rule. Small caps or the S&P... READ MORE
Overbought stocks frequently move above RSI 70, but during periods of selling or consolidation, it's fairly routine to see the RSI dip back to the 40-45 area. Here's a simple scan from the Standard Scan Workbench to find stocks that could be great trading candidates... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, May 11, 2016 It was a bad day for consumer discretionary (XLY, -2.01%) and, in particular, retail stocks (XRT, -4.44%). Macy's (M) delivered an opening blow when their latest quarterly earnings report disappointed Wall Street. On the surface, it didn't... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, May 10, 2016 Energy (XLE, +1.76%), industrials (XLI, +1.72%) and basic materials (XLB, +1.67%) led a wide participation rally on Tuesday that finished with all of our major indices up at least 1% (the Russell 2000 was the lone exception at +0.95%... READ MORE
Market Recap for May 9, 2016 Biotechnology stocks ($DJUSBT) gained more than 2% on Monday, leading the healthcare sector (XLV, +1.14%) to the top of the sector leaderboard, doubling the one day return of the next best sector, utilities (XLU, +0.57%). While Monday's strength was a... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, May 6, 2016 We saw several successful tests of key price, gap and moving average support on Friday. The price action into the close was bullish with our major indices finishing on or near their highs of the session. Money rotated much more aggressively as well... READ MORE
Children's Place (PLCE) printed a reversing hammer on Friday just after touching gap support at 70.51. This comes off a lengthy downtrend that began in mid-April after a negative divergence had developed. Take a look at the technical picture on a daily chart first: Adding further... READ MORE
2016 has been a very good year thus far for the energy sector (XLE) as it's gained 17.51% in just the last three months alone. Unlike many of the other sectors that have been battling slowing momentum in the form of negative divergences, momentum remains very strong... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, May 5, 2016 The energy sector (XLE) was back on top on Thursday, once again leading the market. The XLE gained .82% as four sectors advanced while five declined. Consumer discretionary (XLY) was the weakest link, dropping .64%. Apparel retailers ($DJUSRA) fell 3.0%, led by... READ MORE
Apple (AAPL) is the most influential stock considering all its branches and its psychological effect, not to mention its $510 billion market cap. But all is not well technically for AAPL and we're going to soon find out if it can hold support and resume its uptrend or... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, May 4, 2016 Wednesday's theme was defense. In many sports circles, defense wins championships. That's not the case with the stock market. Strong "defense" here means skepticism, fear and generally a downtrending stock market. So I'm not a... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, May 3, 2016 Energy (XLE) was hit hard on Tuesday as all nine sectors retreated. But the XLE's drop of 2.36% was notable as it nears a key short-term price support level and its rising 20 day EMA, both generally strong areas... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, May 2, 2016 Consumer discretionary (XLY) and consumer staples (XLP) were the sector leaders on Monday as they posted gains of 1.40% and 1.15%, respectively. But like so many areas of the market, even sizable gains and market leadership come with warning signs and... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, April 29, 2016 The U.S. stock market suffered further damage on Friday as all of our major indices ended lower. There were a few bright spots despite the NASDAQ losing more than its fair share and closing at its lowest level in more than a... READ MORE
You have to keep in mind that when everyone wants to buy a stock (or sell a stock), it's the market makers job to provide liquidity and take the other side of the trade. That's why so often we see stocks gap higher or lower from... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, April 28, 2016 U.S. indices tumbled on Thursday, the day after central bankers temporarily closed the candy store. Neither the Federal Reserve here in the U.S. nor Bank of Japan offered up any stimulus that traders could wrap their arms around and amid signs... READ MORE
When a stock breaks out to fresh highs with light volume, a negative divergence and overbought oscillators, you need to be on high alert for a period of selling. That's exactly the signal that ORBCOMM (ORBC) provided astute traders as we entered April. Since that time ORBC has... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, April 27, 2016 Well another FOMC meeting has come and gone. Not much has changed really. The Fed still seems adamant about raising rates, but they're not sure as to the timing. The next meeting in June is a real possibility, but they'... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, April 26, 2016 April has not been kind to technology stocks (XLK). We've seen several key earnings disappointments from the group, including Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Apple (AAPL), and investors in those three are not happy. We've seen bifurcated action throughout... READ MORE
Market Recap for April 25, 2016 Energy (XLE) was very weak on Monday, losing 1.12% to finish 9th out of 9 sectors. Technically, the sector is still very strong and has essentially "reset" its hourly MACD to centerline support. A negative divergence on the hourly chart suggested... READ MORE