Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) has been under tremendous selling pressure since it topped at an all-time high near 90 back in early 2015. The selling began after a long-term negative divergence printed during the second week of the year. That's a sign of slowing momentum on... READ MORE
Utility stocks benefited as much as any sector during the unprecedented drop in treasury yields. Those who seek income were forced out of treasuries the past several years because of historically low treasury yields and they found a home in utilities. The problem now is that treasuries are being sold... READ MORE
Market rotation is the key during every bull market. Indices begin to fall apart when rotation fails and money leaves many aggressive areas and doesn't move to others. But our major indices stay on course so long as market rotation continues and thus far that's what... READ MORE
Medidata Solutions (MDSO) posted better than expected revenues and EPS in late April and the stock exploded higher as a result. Since that time, MDSO hasn't been able to add to those gains, instead consolidating in rectangular fashion with its RSI dropping to 40. As you look at... READ MORE
The Strategy Tuesday marked the end of the second quarter. During the 2015 "halftime report", I thought I'd take a moment to share my approach to individual stock trades. Trading can be a daunting task, especially if you're looking at individual stocks because there... READ MORE
Amazon.com (AMZN) continues to reach for the stars and if the current technical pattern plays out, it'll likely be much closer. After soaring through price resistance in April to set a fresh all-time high on the heels of better-than-expected earnings, AMZN has been consolidating... READ MORE
There is little in this world that irks me more than listening to a fundamentalist eschew technical analysis. I have a somewhat unique background as a Technical Analyst, having passed the CPA exam some 30 years ago and having spent 20 years in public accounting. That has provided me a... READ MORE
IPGP resides in the semiconductor industry and is pulling back with this industry group as June has proven to be a very rough month for this space. I'm expecting that to soon change and IPGP could be a direct beneficiary. But first, there's some technical business... READ MORE
After testing 2075 price support for about the sixth time a week ago, the S&P 500 has rallied close to 2.5% since that low. While all nine sectors have participated in this rally, energy has been the laggard while consumer stocks, especially staples, have led this rally.... READ MORE
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday suggested the pace on increasing interest rates would be slower than previously thought. There was renewed interest in treasuries and the 10 year treasury yield dropping nearly 10 basis points in the two hours following the Fed policy statement. Those remarks by Fed Chair Janet... READ MORE
Just like with fundamental analysis, technical analysis has two sides - those who look at the glass as half full and those who view it as half empty. The current technical state of the Dow Jones U.S. Specialty Consumer Services index ($DJUSCS) is certainly up for debate. There are several... READ MORE
Okay, first let me preface this article with the notion that I don't short a bull market. I really try to trade with the trend. Going against the primary trend is similar to swimming against the current - it's not easy to make any head way. During... READ MORE
There hasn't been much positive news to tweet about at Twitter (TWTR) lately. In the midst of its downward spiral in price action, CEO Dick Costolo announced he would be resigning from TWTR and TWTR's co-founder and Chairman Jack Dorsey would take over. The problem... READ MORE
I love technical analysis. I spent two decades in public accounting, was a prinicipal in a large regional CPA firm in the Washington DC metropolitan area and audited companies in several industries, including banks. But as I say over and over again, you can have the financial statements and review... READ MORE
Mobileye (MBLY) is one of the companies behind the car crash avoidance technology. MBLY broke its downtrend line in early March on surging volume and has been trending higher ever since. Volume trends remain very strong and today's breakout is occurring on excellent volume as it clears double... READ MORE
The ten year treasury yield has surged from 1.65% to 2.40% since February 1st so it should be no surprise that the Dow Jones U.S. Bank Index ($DJUSBK) has risen more than 14% during that same span. From a sector perspective, the consumer discretionary (XLY) space is... READ MORE
Money is rotating towards financial stocks as the market prepares for what appears will be Fed tightening later in 2015 into 2016. Higher yields on treasuries and a steepening yield curve generally increase net interest margin, the key metric in bank earnings. So traders are using this fundamental development to... READ MORE
A solid labor market had bond traders heading for the exits on Friday and that extended the recent surge in treasury yields. The 10 year treasury yield ($TNX) closed at its highest level since early October and that has many traders heading for the financial sector. While the financial ETF... READ MORE
Okay, I'm being a bit dramatic with this title because I'm not ready to throw the towel in on this bull market. But there are clearly warning signs technically that the next bout of rotation in the stock market could negatively affect the healthcare sector. As... READ MORE
JP Morgan downgraded Verizon (VZ) this morning, instead choosing AT&T (T) and that has put pressure on VZ in the early going. Thus far, buyers have emerged and VZ has risen off its opening gap lower. Technically, VZ is continuing its downtrend that it started just over a... READ MORE
If you know one thing about me, you should know that I'm a stock market historian. I've logged every day's S&P 500 activity onto an Excel spreadsheet since 1950. If there's a trend, I can tell you about it. So... READ MORE
Just a couple days after finally clearing two month resistance at 1950, the Dow Jones U.S. Semiconductor Index closed above 2000 for the first time in 14 years late last week. Semiconductors tend to move quickly in both directions so given the breakout, I'd be looking for... READ MORE
Apple (AAPL) is more than a $750 billion market cap company, by far the largest on the NASDAQ. Therefore, AAPL's price performance will have a rather significant impact on the overall performance of the NASDAQ as the NASDAQ is a market cap weighted index. In other words, AAPL&... READ MORE
ABIOMED (ABMD) has fallen much of the past three weeks after surging on better-than-expected quarterly earnings results on May 5th. ABMD posted revenues of 67.56 million in its latest quarter, easily surpassing Wall Street forecasts of 62.33 million. In addition, ABMD's EPS trounced estimates,... READ MORE
Gaps are strange creatures and knowing what to do after one is difficult because emotion does crazy things to our patience and discipline. Gaps 101 tells us that most gaps fill. What does that mean? Well, if ABC company closed yesterday at 10.00 and opened today at 11.00,... READ MORE
One of the advantages that the technical trader carries in his/her back pocket is the ability to visualize the future price action before it happens - based on the prior price action. Trending price action to the upside is generally followed by bullish continuation patterns. Periods of consolidation can be... READ MORE
The Dow Jones U.S. Gambling Index ($DJUSCA) has been under pressure for quite some time with many gambling stocks under pressure as well. That has not been the case for Penn National Gaming (PENN), however, as it's been in an uptrend and has been a tremendous relative... READ MORE
We've been in a six year bull market where most stocks have been trending higher. But not every industry group and stock follows the primary trend higher. In fact, catching a falling stock just as it hits rock bottom can provide a big lift to your portfolio. So... READ MORE
Over the past month, the Consumer Electronics Index ($DJUSCE) has fallen close to 9%, which ranks it as the third worst performing industry group. Only gambling stocks (-12.64%) and business training & employment agencies (-15.68%) - two consumer discretionary industry groups - have performed worse. Normally, I tend to steer... READ MORE
During my webinar yesterday, I indicated that I'd take a look at the Russell 2000 ($RUT) and its lagging performance, but then I was sidetracked by other charts and questions. So I'll take an opportunity here in my blog to provide you those Russell 2000 comments.... READ MORE
The best stock traders on the planet share one common ingredient. They manage risk. Managing risk can mean lots of things. You can manage risk by trading Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) instead of individual stocks. This will help to eliminate, or significantly reduce, specific stock risk. If you don'... READ MORE
This is a series of articles designed to remind each of us the keys to identifying the many potential warning signs that create stock market tops. If you're just tuning in, you can CLICK HERE for Part 1 that begins the series. Enjoy! This is the final part... READ MORE
This is a series of articles designed to remind each of us the keys to identifying the many potential warning signs that create stock market tops. If you're just tuning in, you can CLICK HERE for Part 1 that begins the series. Enjoy! Today, I want to delve... READ MORE
It's Kentucky Derby Day so of course! Oops, wrong blog! :-) We know that the stock market goes through periods of consolidation and rotation. Groups that lead for a period of time eventually fall out of favor as new groups emerge as leaders. Then we rinse and repeat. So... READ MORE
Today marks two months for me here at StockCharts.com and I just want to thank everyone for your kind words and especially for all of the technical feedback. Your comments are very important to me so please keep them coming. Writing and teaching about the stock market is what... READ MORE
A little more than a week ago, CAMP broke trendline resistance after posting better than expected earnings results. CAMP's top line was $69.2 mil (actual) vs. $68.0 (estimate), while its bottom line also beat Wall Street estimates, $.29 vs. $.25. The breakout occurred on huge volume... READ MORE
I've discussed price action (duh!), the relative performance of aggressive sectors and defensive sectors vs. the benchmark S&P 500 and the relationship between consumer discretionary (cyclical) stocks and its consumer staples counterparts in prior articles and how they impact the future behavior of stock prices. This... READ MORE
When evaluating the stock market for a potential top, there's another intermarket relationship that seems to provide us a nice clue. So without further hesitation, let me move on to my third area of the stock market to watch: 3. WHICH GROUP OF CONSUMER STOCKS IS LEADING? There&... READ MORE
On Wednesday, I began a series of blog articles that is designed to evaluate the health of the stock market. In other words, what should we be looking for in determining whether we should leave our retirement and taxable accounts at risk? Wednesday's blog was the first, and... READ MORE
At 10am EST this morning, March new home sales were released and they fell well short of expectations. Is that a long-term problem for home construction ($DJUSHB) or is it an opportunity for traders to move into this area of the market at lower prices? Well, you'll... READ MORE