The employment report showed that 271,000 jobs were added in October, above even the highest estimate and that sent traders flocking out of treasuries. But what was bad news for treasuries was great news for banks. Higher treasury yields generally lead to higher net interest margins for banks. Technically,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 5, 2015 Utilities and energy were the laggards on Thursday, which wasn't bad action considering the recent strength we've had. In other words, our aggressive sectors managed to perform well on a relative basis. Also, the small cap Russell 2000 index... READ MORE
No signal is perfect, but the relative performance of consumer stocks is one to watch. The reason is simple. When consumer discretionary stocks (XLY) outperform their consumer staples counterparts (XLP), a bet is being made by market participants that our economy is strong or appears to be strengthening. Keep in... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 4, 2015 Wednesday represented a day of consolidation as only two sectors were able to close higher - utilities and technology - and the latter was barely higher. The other 7 sectors finished down in a session of profit taking. While utilities (XLU) rose, they... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 3, 2015 Energy (XLE) surged 2.56% on Tuesday, fueling yet another market rally to spur the S&P 500 to 2110, just 1% beneath its all-time closing high of 2130.82 set on May 21, 2015. Since setting reverse right shoulder support at... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 2, 2015 The action on Monday was mostly positive, especially as we look at the performance of our major indices. All were higher and relative strength was seen by the more aggressive Russell 2000 and NASDAQ. That's always a good thing. Energy and... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, October 30, 2015 It was a lacklaster day for equities until a late day selling binge. U.S. treasuries were bought on Friday after a couple weeks of selling and that sent yields slightly lower and weighed on the financial sector, banks ($DJUSBK) in particular. Technically,... READ MORE
Gambling stocks ($DJUSCA) have been BY FAR the worst performing industry group within the consumer discretionary sector over the past year, dropping 27.72%. There are only two other industry groups in this sector in negative territory - clothing & accessories ($DJUSCF) and recreational products ($DJUSRP) which have fallen 8.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, October 29, 2015 All of our major indices saw selling on Thursday, although losses on the Dow Jones and S&P 500 were relatively minor, with the latter losing less than one point. Action was contained in a fairly tight range with energy (XLE) and... READ MORE
GPRO reported revenues and earnings that fell short of expectations after the bell last night and the reaction was about as you might expect - down 17% on the open. It's since recovered and is attempting to print a significant red hollow candle on massive volume. As a... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, October 28, 2015 One of the most bullish historical periods of the year got off to a bullish start with the help of the Fed. But if you've been following the U.S. stock market for a few years, that was nothing new. The... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, October 27, 2015 It was a rather non-eventful day on Tuesday with our major indices in negative territory throughout much of the day. There was a bit of bifurcation once again as the NASDAQ 100 finished in positive territory while the Russell 2000 once again lagged... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, October 26, 2015 Relatively speaking, there was little volatility in U.S. equities on Monday as each of our major indices showed minor gaps at the open and then traded within Friday's trading range. In other words, we didn't see any higher... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, October 23, 2015 Huge earnings reports from the likes of Amazon.com (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT), among others, sent NASDAQ 100 shares flying higher on Friday, far outpacing the broader stock market. For the week, technology and industrial shares rose 4.43% and 4.... READ MORE
I don't like to place bets into earnings reports, but priceline.com (PCLN) sure does look to be a replica of Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOGL). AMZN and GOOGL both reported strong results in July and gapped significantly higher. After pulling back for several weeks to fill their... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, October 22, 2015 It was a very bullish kind of day. There was strength at the opening bell and outside of a brief mid-day bout of selling, buying continued through the close. Adding an exclamation point was the volume. Barring option expiration days and the panicked... READ MORE
Sirius Satellite (SIRI) has been trying to clear the 4.00-4.10 resistance area for two years now. This consolidation or basing period is very bullish since it follows a period of rising prices. We need to see the breakout first, however. SIRI reported its quarterly earnings and met Wall... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, October 21, 2015 The U.S. stock market closed on a sour note on Wednesday as only very minor gains in consumer staples and industrials saved the bulls from an entire sector sweep. Leading to the downside were energy and healthcare as it's been... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, October 20, 2015 The Dow Jones U.S Biotech Index ($DJUSBT) fell 2.5% on Tuesday, failing to hold onto the 20 day EMA it had barely broken above the prior three trading sessions. That led to a healthcare group that lagged the overall market badly... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, October 19, 2015 It was mostly bifurcated action throughout Monday's session with the NASDAQ leading. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 did manage to finish with gains after rallying in the final two hours. Among sectors, consumer stocks resumed their leadership role... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, October 16, 2015 Friday's action was fairly calm for an option expiration day, especially given that there's so much at stake technically. We did see a sudden drop in the early part of the afternoon session only to be followed by a... READ MORE
Over the past three weeks, Qualcomm (QCOM) has rallied from a low of 52.17 to Friday's close at 59.91 - barely eclipsing the falling 20 week EMA currently at 59.78. Has that 15% recovery signaled that the worst is over? Or is this just the... READ MORE
In prior months, I've used the seasonality tool here at StockCharts.com to identify industry groups poised to perform well. In September, internet ($DJUSNS), footwear ($DJUSFT), recreational services ($DJUSRQ), and reinsurance ($DJUSIU) stocks were shown to outperform the benchmark S&P 500 and all four either held... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, October 15, 2015 On the surface, the big gains yesterday appear quite bullish - and they may turn out to be. There are definitely positives and negatives. On the plus side, volume really accelerated in the final hour or two to support the buying. We saw... READ MORE
The technical conditions surrounding biotechs ($DJUSBT) are bad, no sugar-coating here. It's not pictured below but the DJUSBT did manage to clear 20 day EMA resistance on today's close. However, I'm more concerned with the longer-term weekly charts where we've seen heavy... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Materials and energy managed to eke out fractional gains, while utilities were flat. Unfortunately, as I evaluate the strength of the stock market, those are not the sectors that heavily influence me. Instead, the other six sectors were lower with consumer stocks being... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, October 13, 2015 One piece of good news on Tuesday was that technology was the leading sector. However, all nine sectors moved lower and the action was probably the most bearish over the past 2-3 weeks. Serious short-term technical ramifications quickly surfaced. In no particular order:... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, October 12, 2015 It was a relatively quiet session as many market participants shied away from action in observance of Columbus Day. NASDAQ volume was only 1.33 billion shares, extremely light compared to recent sessions. Still, the bulls managed to remain in control of the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, October 9, 2015 There wasn't much news out towards the end of last week so all eyes were on overseas action and technical developments here in the U.S. Of course, earnings season is kicking into gear and that now becomes more of a... READ MORE
The long-term pattern is bullish. Short-term technical conditions are improving. And the season is right as October is the best calendar month of the year in terms of historical performance for internet stocks. The Dow Jones U.S. Internet Index ($DJUSNS) looks poised for another explosion to the upside. We&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, October 8, 2015 One very good thing has emerged lately with respect to the U.S. stock market. It trends higher into the close and afternoon buying is generally healthy market action. The S&P 500 has now finished higher 7 of the last 8... READ MORE
Airlines ($DJUSAR) have traded sideways to down most of 2015. Yet this industry group is one of the best performers historically in the month of October. Furthermore, several airline stocks are in bullish patterns OR are approaching key technical levels of support/resistance. The chart below summarizes several of the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, October 7, 2015 European markets ended in positive territory again on Wednesday and that's certainly providing a lift for the U.S. market. Healthcare (XLV) picked itself off the floor and led the action, gaining 1.60%. The beaten down biotech space bounced 2.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, October 6, 2015 No one could claim victory on Tuesday. First, we had a bifurcated market in which the Dow Jones rose while the S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 all lost ground. Three sectors gained while the other six fell. Clearly, there was... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, October 5, 2015 This tennis match continues to unfold with the bulls returning serve the past few trading sessions. It appeared to be game, set and match on Friday morning when the disappointing jobs numbers were released, but there's been nothing but buying since.... READ MORE
One reminder: You can subscribe to my blog and receive all of my blog posts via e-mail each morning by simply clicking on the "Yes" button below and providing your e-mail address. This applies to all of the blogs here at StockCharts.com so stay ahead of the... READ MORE
In evaluating whether a positive (or negative) divergence exists on a chart, you must remember to use closing prices. If you use candlesticks like I do, it's not always easy to spot divergences. I'll give you an example - Baidu (BIDU). On the chart below, the... READ MORE
If you believe that crude oil ($WTIC) is dirt cheap and the primary trend from here will be higher, then one simple trading strategy is to own the XLE (Energy Select Sector SPDR). Over the years, the correlation between the two is strong - and perhaps obvious. Since the 2000-2002... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, October 1, 2015 We finished on a strong note on Thursday by rallying into the close and ending near highs of the day across our major indices - very similar to Wednesday. Unfortunately, the strength was centered in materials and healthcare, two of the three worst... READ MORE
Actually, this chipmaker's chart looks very strong, especially longer-term. After a strong advance in late 2014, a negative divergence emerged and was followed by a topping head & shoulders pattern. The measurement of that pattern - from the top of the head to the neckline -was roughly 17.... READ MORE