After gapping up off its recent uptrend, the buying continued on Intel (INTC) intraday on Friday as it surged to a high of 35.29. By day's end, however, INTC closed at 34.66 - EXACTLY where it closed on its recent high on October 23rd. Volume was very... READ MORE
On the surface, the rout that took place in August has been completely reversed and, three months later, it's like nothing ever happened, right? Wrong. What has happened is that the S&P 500 rose from August 19th's close of 2079.61 to Thursday, November... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 19, 2015 The U.S. stock market was bifurcated on Thursday with the NASDAQ 100 able to eke out small gains while the others were fractionally lower. Utilities were easily the sector performance leader, but it's been a rough few weeks for the... READ MORE
The Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction index ($DJUSHB) hit its highest level in two months this morning and a close above 600 would likely signal more strength to come. DR Horton (DHI) and NVR, Inc (NVR) represent two of the strongest stocks in the group technically and are both... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 18, 2015 There was strength everywhere on Wednesday. All nine sectors were higher and utilities represented the only sector that was not higher by at least 1%. Healthcare (XLV) rallied 1.95% while materials (XLB) and financials (XLY) both rose by an identical 1.78%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 17, 2015 The U.S. dollar index ($USD) neared 100 for the first time since the second week of April and that sent shock waves throughout commodities once again. Gold, in particular, was hit very hard as GLD broke to fresh lows beneath four month... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 16, 2015 All nine sectors moved higher on Monday and the wide participation was evident in the 1%+ gains across the board. Leadership in energy (XLE) was clear with that sector's 3.33% advance off key support near 66.00. This level was... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 13, 2015 Retailers were slammed on Friday after October retail sales came up short of expectations. Retail sales for the month gained 0.1% while expectations were for a much stronger 0.3% rise. Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.2%, one half of the... READ MORE
Retailers were rocked on Friday with the five worst performing industry groups all in the retail space. The S&P Retail index (XRT) dropped nearly 4% on Friday and more than 8% last week. Many of the retail industry groups and stocks within those groups are at or challenging... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 12, 2015 Over the past 5-6 trading sessions, the selling was fairly contained and appeared to be nothing more than normal profit taking after a lengthy advance from the depths of the late September lows. That changed yesterday. I'm not writing off... READ MORE
Prior to this week, energy had seen its strongest rebound since topping in June 2014. But a long-term negative divergence and slowing volume suggested the rally was long in the tooth. After hitting nearly 72.00, the XLE has retreated and the energy bulls will now be tested. During... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 11, 2015 Wednesday wasn't a horrible day, but the back and forth action ended with a "back" as our major indices finished on or near their lows for the session. Mid-day it was much more promising than that as early... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 10, 2015 Technology and materials shares held back the market on Tuesday. These sectors were down .66% and .73%, respectively. Industrials were flat, while the remaining six sectors finished higher on the session. CreditSuisse lowered its earnings estimates for Apple (AAPL) and Seabreeze Partners Management... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 9, 2015 Monday represented the worst one day performance for U.S. stocks since the late September low printed. 8 of 9 sectors were lower, led by consumer discretionary (XLY) and financials (XLF). The only sector spared was the defensive utilities (XLU) group, which simply... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 6, 2015 We didn't make any major breakouts on Friday, but after initial weakness we did see the aggressive indices - NASDAQ and Russell 2000 - close nicely. In addition, the exceptionally strong October jobs report sent financial stocks soaring, especially banks ($DJUSBK), life insurance... READ MORE
Semiconductors have been one of the hottest areas of the market off the August low and especially during the month of October. That's created a number of trading opportunities in the space. I would consider Microsemi Corp to be one of those opportunities now based on its cup... READ MORE
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 are at... 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... 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 8.44%... 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 result,... 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... 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... 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... 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 bounce... 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 almost... READ MORE