The technical conditions surrounding biotechs ($DJUSBT) are bad, no sugar-coating here. It's not pictured below but the DJUSBT did manage to clear 20 day EMA resistance on today's close. However, I'm more concerned with the longer-term weekly charts where we've... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Materials and energy managed to eke out fractional gains, while utilities were flat. Unfortunately, as I evaluate the strength of the stock market, those are not the sectors that heavily influence me. Instead, the other six sectors were lower with consumer stocks being... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, October 13, 2015 One piece of good news on Tuesday was that technology was the leading sector. However, all nine sectors moved lower and the action was probably the most bearish over the past 2-3 weeks. Serious short-term technical ramifications quickly surfaced. In no... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, October 12, 2015 It was a relatively quiet session as many market participants shied away from action in observance of Columbus Day. NASDAQ volume was only 1.33 billion shares, extremely light compared to recent sessions. Still, the bulls managed to remain in control of the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, October 9, 2015 There wasn't much news out towards the end of last week so all eyes were on overseas action and technical developments here in the U.S. Of course, earnings season is kicking into gear and that now becomes more of a... READ MORE
The long-term pattern is bullish. Short-term technical conditions are improving. And the season is right as October is the best calendar month of the year in terms of historical performance for internet stocks. The Dow Jones U.S. Internet Index ($DJUSNS) looks poised for another explosion to the... 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 ($DJUSAR) have traded sideways to down most of 2015. Yet this industry group is one of the best performers historically in the month of October. Furthermore, several airline stocks are in bullish patterns OR are approaching key technical levels of support/resistance. The chart below summarizes several of the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, October 7, 2015 European markets ended in positive territory again on Wednesday and that's certainly providing a lift for the U.S. market. Healthcare (XLV) picked itself off the floor and led the action, gaining 1.60%. The beaten down biotech space bounced 2.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, October 6, 2015 No one could claim victory on Tuesday. First, we had a bifurcated market in which the Dow Jones rose while the S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 all lost ground. Three sectors gained while the other six fell. Clearly, there was... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, October 5, 2015 This tennis match continues to unfold with the bulls returning serve the past few trading sessions. It appeared to be game, set and match on Friday morning when the disappointing jobs numbers were released, but there's been nothing but buying since.... READ MORE
One reminder: You can subscribe to my blog and receive all of my blog posts via e-mail each morning by simply clicking on the "Yes" button below and providing your e-mail address. This applies to all of the blogs here at StockCharts.com so stay ahead... READ MORE
In evaluating whether a positive (or negative) divergence exists on a chart, you must remember to use closing prices. If you use candlesticks like I do, it's not always easy to spot divergences. I'll give you an example - Baidu (BIDU). On the chart below, the top... READ MORE
If you believe that crude oil ($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 sectors... 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
Market Recap for Wednesday, September 30, 2015 The month of September and the third quarter of 2015 came to a close on Wednesday and the bulls were able to reduce their losses for the month and quarter. The S&P 500 finished September down 2.6% while the tumultuous... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, September 29, 2015 We once again saw a bifurcated market - one in which both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 finished in positive territory while both the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 fell. That relative weakness in our more aggressive indices is not a good... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, September 28, 2015 It was another case of the Monday blues. Following the lead in Europe, the U.S. indices gapped lower and continued selling throughout the session with barely a pause. It was a distribution day for sure and small caps (Russell 2000) were among... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, September 25, 2015 Friday looked like two different markets. The Dow Jones gained 113 points, the S&P 500 finished flat and the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 both fell more than 1%. Talk about bifurcation. Crazy. But in the end, the problems remained across the... READ MORE
Healthcare stocks led much of the market's rally off the 2009 lows - especially since early 2011. That was then. This is now. Technical conditions have deteriorated immensely since the Spring of this year when warning signs emerged (see "Healthcare Stocks Are Vulnerable To Weakness Ahead"). Negative... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, September 24, 2015 It wasn't so much about what happened during the trading session on Thursday as it was about what happened after it. U.S. equities were sharply lower in the first half of Thursday's session as the Germany drubbing continued,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, September 23, 2015 The S&P 500 keeps trying to regain its footing as it watched its German counterpart (DAX) lose August support two days ago and then fail to recapture that support level on Wednesday when it had the opportunity. 9648 was that August... READ MORE
One cool feature at StockCharts.com is the ability to check the seasonal tendencies of stocks. For instance, I can tell you that Amazon.com (AMZN) performs its best during the month of September, which is odd because September is the worst month of the year historically for the S&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, September 22, 2015 Simply put, it's ALWAYS better to see afternoon buying. Despite the late day strength, all 9 sectors finished lower on Tuesday, but most areas finished well off their intraday lows, a positive sign at least for the very near-term. Healthcare... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, September 21, 2015 Impulsive selling has been the signature of the past month. Beginning with the August free fall, when the selling has hit, it's hit in a hurry. Monday was a perfect example of why we are not out of the woods just... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, September 18, 2015 Traders were not thrilled by the Federal Reserve's decision to leave interest rates unchanged as they quickly turned their attention to defensive bonds. The 10 year treasury yield ($TNX), after closing above 2.30% for the first time in two months... READ MORE
As we approach the end of the third quarter in 2015, it's time to unveil a few "Best Of" awards as they pertain to the NASDAQ 100. Let's get this party started: Best Buy & Hold Google (GOOGL). The long-term chart speaks for... READ MORE
U.S. equities have been very weak since mid-August with many sectors, industry groups and individual stocks broken down technically. In recent days and weeks, many high profile stocks have struggled to clear falling 20 day EMAs. So it's always nice to see industry groups or stocks... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, September 17, 2015 Much ado about nothing. That's my summation of the Fed policy statement. Fed Chair Yellen decided to do nothing as apparently Fed policy is now contingent upon....just about everything. Isn't the Federal Reserve THE central bank? In stock... READ MORE
Well, the Fed meeting and announcement has come and gone. All the drama is over. At the end of the day, Fed Chair Janet Yellen decided to leave interest rates unchanged for now, citing weakness abroad as one of the reasons for such delay. It's not often that... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, September 16, 2015 The bulls continued to piece back together technical conditions on Wednesday ahead of the Fed announcement later today. All sectors finished higher, although it was the outsized gain in energy (XLE) that clearly "fueled" the rally. Coal ($DJUSCL) gained 6% and... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, September 15, 2015 Fairly light volume continued on Tuesday, but the bulls were in charge throughout the day with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 all joining the NASDAQ back above falling 20 day EMAs. At least that part of the damaged... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, September 14, 2015 It's hard to take too much away from Monday's action. Volume was extremely light with the NASDAQ volume at 1.45 billion shares. It was one of the lightest volume days of the year and the lightest since June... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, September 11, 2015 Utilities and consumer stocks led the market rally on Friday. All sectors finished fractionally higher, except energy and materials. Their weak performance has been the number one factor for the weakness we've seen in our major indices in 2015. Year-to-... READ MORE
As we await the Fed's interest rate decision this week, it's a good time to review a key area of the market that is heavily swayed by the direction of interest rates - banks ($DJUSBK). As the 10 year treasury yield ($TNX) rises and the yield curve... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, September 10, 2015 I wouldn't view Thursday's action to be bullish as few technical resistance levels were cleared, but the fact there was no follow through to the downside after Wednesday's bearish candlesticks at major resistance was a moral victory... READ MORE
Computer hardware ($DJUSCR) led the technology sector to outsized gains on Thursday and Diebold (DBD) benefited by bouncing off price support. The 29.50-30.00 area has served as excellent support in 2015. Consider the trading range to be 29.50-32.50 in the near-term until either... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, September 9, 2015 Technical failure after technical failure. Bearish engulfing candles. Dark cloud cover candles. Opens above 20 day EMAs and closes beneath. You name the short-term failure and it probably occurred on a chart somewhere on Wednesday. After two weeks of torment, global markets... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, September 8, 2015 As we've seen often of late, the U.S. equity markets surged at the open but failed to add to those opening gains until the final 90 minutes of trading. At that point, buying resumed and all of our major indices... READ MORE