Market Recap for Friday, April 22, 2016 The technology world (-1.74%) was rocked on Friday with disappointing earnings announcements from a host of NASDAQ names, particularly a couple large technology companies. Microsoft (MSFT) stumbled badly, losing 7.17% after posting EPS that fell slightly below expectations. Revenue guidance in... READ MORE
Energy stocks have been strengthening throughout 2016 and Helix Energy Solutions (HLX) is a small $900 million market cap company that just broke out his past week. Its SCTR rank has quickly soared to above 90 after recently printing SCTR readings in the single digits for several months. Check out... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, April 21, 2016 The Dow Jones dropped 114 points on Thursday, marking only the fourth time in the past two months it's lost more than 100 points during a session. The climb has been steady with few declines of any magnitude as energy (XLE)... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, April 20, 2016 Energy (XLE) once again found itself on top of the relative leaderboard in terms of sector performance. The XLE gained .90% on Wednesday. Oil equipment and services ($DJUSOI) gained over 1% and broke to fresh highs. Here's an update on that... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, April 19, 2016 Nothing seems to be able to slow down this market freight train. Not disappointing housing data. Not a continuing rush into treasuries. Not weak guidance from IBM and Netflix (NFLX). Not negative divergences across multiple time frames. Literally nothing. Yes, the market did... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, April 18, 2016 All nine sectors rallied on Monday to support the Dow Jones' breakout above the psychological 18000 barrier. Energy (XLE) and consumer discretionary (XLY) led the broad-based rally with gains of 1.65% and .94%, respectively. Healthcare (XLV) tacked on a .93%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, April 15, 2016 The last significant top on the Dow Jones occurred on November 3rd when it posted an intraday high of 17978 and closed at 17918. The action late last week challenged those two levels when the Dow Jones hit an intraday high of 17962... READ MORE
Negative divergences that appear on daily charts tend to take a couple weeks to play out before we see momentum potentially resume back to the upside. That seems to be where Progressive Corp (PGR) currently stands. On PGR's most recent price high, its MACD did not follow suit,... READ MORE
Based on April performance alone over the past 20 years, the best industry groups to invest in have been the following: $DJUSHL (Hotels & Lodging REITs) +12.4% $DJUSAU (Automobiles) +10.3% $DJUSRL (Retail REITs) +9.7% $DJUSES (Real Estate Services) +8.9% $DJUSTR (Tires) +7.9% All five of... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, April 14, 2016 Energy (XLE) and financials (XLF) led the market action on Thursday, although our major indices were bifurcated with slight gains in the Dow Jones and S&P 500 and minor losses on the more aggressive NASDAQ and Russell 2000. Crude oil ($WTIC)... READ MORE
The Dow Jones U.S. Banks Index ($DJUSBK) soared on Wednesday after JP Morgan Chase (JPM) delivered better than expected quarterly earnings results. The strength in JPM sent the DJUSBK to the doorstep of a significant price breakout above 300. However, Bank of America (BAC), PNC Bank (PNC) and Wells... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, April 13, 2016 Wednesday was arguably the best trading day of 2016 for U.S. equities. Volume increased to nearly 2 billion shares on the NASDAQ and the four offensive sectors - financials, industrials, consumer discretionary and technology - led the rally with gains of 2.27%, 1.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, April 12, 2016 Just before Tuesday's open, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its forecast for world economic growth. Then shortly after the open, all of our major indices lost recent price support and rising 20 day EMA support. Short-term prospects were worsening... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, April 11, 2016 It was a disappointing day on Wall Street Monday as nice early gains vanished by the close with all of our major indices at the door step of 20 day EMA support. The Dow Jones was higher by 155 points 30 minutes into... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, April 8, 2016 Our major indices gave up a big chunk of their earlier gains on Friday, but did manage to finish in positive territory. Crude oil ($WTIC) topped off a superb week (+8.27%) by rising 5.68% on Friday alone. The WTIC is now... READ MORE
Last week was horrible for financial stocks as the XLF tumbled 2.86%. Investment services ($DJUSSB) and asset managers ($DJUSAG) were at the bottom of the heap with losses of 6.00% and 3.94%, respectively. The losses were technically damaging for both industry groups as both now appear to... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, April 7, 2016 It was a rough day yesterday. All of our major indices were down. All nine sectors were lower. Unless you were trading gambling stocks or mining for gold, you probably saw red numbers. The selling was truly across the board. But there was... READ MORE
Kraft Heinz Co (KHC) has been uptrending for several years. On its high in August, however, a negative divergence appeared on its weekly chart and, as a result, KHC sideways consolidated for the past 8 months. The good news is that it appears to be consolidating in a bullish cup... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Healthcare (XLV) and energy (XLE) had huge days on Wednesday as our major indices rose throughout the day and finished on its high. Strength was seen across nearly every sector with only the defensive utilities down slightly. The best performing aggressive sector - technology... READ MORE
Volume is triple its normal daily volume and Harley Davidson (HOG) is down more than 7% today, but technical analysis flashed many warning signs on both the daily and weekly charts. First, let's look at the daily chart where price and gap resistance and a negative divergence all... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, April 5, 2016 U.S. equities had a rough day from the opening bell on Tuesday. The Dow Jones fell more than 100 points in a session for the first time in nearly a month as the rally off the February 11th bottom has continued to... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, April 4, 2016 During my Monday webinar (CLICK HERE for recording), I highlighted a few red flags regarding a possible short-term market downturn. Among those were negative divergences across our major indices. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is a momentum oscillator designed to track... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, April 1, 2016 The market rally continues. While the majority of money seems to be flowing toward defense, which isn't a great sign of strength nor one of sustainability, it's difficult to argue with day after day of gains. So caution makes... READ MORE
The seasonality tool here at StockCharts.com provides an easy way to review historical results for indices, sectors, industry groups and individual stocks. I looked at financials and healthcare industry groups as these two sectors have performed the worst over the past three months. Perhaps seasonal strength can provide a... READ MORE
In order to determine the sustainability of market rallies, following the rotation between certain sectors or indices can be quite helpful. The chart below shows red shaded areas to highlight warning signs that appeared at the end of the prior bull market in 2007 and also warned of the 2011... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 31, 2016 Utilities (XLU) were the only sector to finish in positive territory on Thursday, rising .59%. The remaining eight sectors fell, led by materials' (XLB) .84% decline. While the loss on Thursday was a problem for the materials bulls, weakness in the U.... READ MORE
Earlier today, IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX) fell beneath its rising 20 day EMA but quickly recovered and is now on the verge of breaking above a quadruple top in the 79-80 range. Volume isn't huge, but it is increasing so a breakout should be respected. We've... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, March 30, 2016 U.S. equities jumped again, this time with most of the major indices climbing a similar percentage close to .50%. The Russell 2000 ($RUT) lagged a bit, but considering the huge outperformance on Tuesday, let's give the small caps a one... READ MORE
The rally in the S&P 500 has been impressive and truckers ($DJUSTK) have been among the best performing industry groups, rising 17% over the past three months. That actually places truckers as the leading industry group within the industrials over that time frame. C. H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW)... READ MORE
Reminders First, please subscribe to my blog at the bottom of this article. Simply click on "Yes" to the question, enter your email address and click "Subscribe". By doing so, my article will be sent directly your email as soon as it's published. It&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, March 28, 2016 Monday was another day of market bifurcation with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 barely higher, while the NASDAQ suffered a minor loss. Few analysts expected the type of rally we've seen off the February 11th bottom,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 24, 2016 Despite a rising dollar ($USD), energy (XLE) was the best performing sector on Thursday, posting a .49% gain, while financials (XLF) were the biggest loser, dropping .62%. Four sectors rose while four declined and materials (XLB) finished exactly where they started. The dollar... READ MORE
From a short- to intermediate-term trading perspective, slowing momentum to the upside is a warning sign if you're long. Slowing momentum can come in different forms, but I consider negative divergences on the MACD and weak volume on price breakouts to be two solid examples. Based on... READ MORE
Priceline (PCLN) has seen lots of volatility over the past several months including sizable gaps higher and lower, but the technical picture remains bright. The near-term has turned dicey as a negative divergence has emerged, but that slowing momentum could be exactly what this bullish inverse head & shoulders... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, March 23, 2016 Energy (XLE) was under heavy selling pressure on Wednesday for the first time in two weeks and that sector was primarily responsible for the weakness in the S&P 500. Seven of nine sectors finished lower, however, as only the defensive utilities... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, March 22, 2016 The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 all turned lower on Tuesday, but the NASDAQ managed to take over relative leadership and finish with fractional gains. Healthcare (XLV) has been the lagging sector over the past month, but led all... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, March 21, 2016 It was another day of mostly higher prices, albeit gains were modest. That's the hallmark of a bull market - day after day of almost boring gains where bears cannot gain any traction whatsoever. If there's one thing that can... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, March 18, 2016 The Russell 2000 ($RUT) gained 0.95% on Friday and easily outpaced our other major indices. It also closed back above 1100 for the first time since closing below that number on January 6th. Given the successful tests of the rising 20 day... READ MORE
Despite all the market volatility and weakness over the past year, CHTR has held steady in its uptrend and has been consolidating throughout. It was awaiting a heavy volume breakout, but it's waiting no more. More than 15 million shares changed hands last week as CHTR closed above... READ MORE
Healthcare (XLV) has been the weakest sector over the past one and three month periods, but you'd never know it from looking at the Dow Jones U.S. Medical Supplies Index ($DJUSMS). The DJUSMS has gained over 8% during the past three months while the Dow Jones U.... READ MORE