HCA Healthcare (HCA) is turning up at a key level and showing signs that the long-term uptrend is resuming. HCA is in a long-term uptrend because it broke out in January and recorded a 52-week high. This breakout zone turned into support around 82 as the stock fell back to... READ MORE
LONG TERM COMPARISON OF CPI AND COMMODITIES... I wrote a message over the weekend examining the impact that full employment and commodity prices have had on CPI inflation. At the risk of overdoing it, I'd like to finish that article with two more charts. I made the bold... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, June 23, 2017 It's been a rough ride for crude oil ($WTIC) over the past several months and the steady march lower has taken oil back to test its November low just above $42 per barrel. It hasn't been a robust advance... READ MORE
A HISTORICAL COMPARISON... A big debate is going on regarding the path of inflation. Inflation figures have slipped during the second quarter. So have commodity prices. Normally, falling commodity prices signal lower inflation. Fed economists argue that the current low unemployment rate should boost inflation. The Fed generally defines "... READ MORE
Biotechnology stocks ($DJUSBT) were the second best performing industry group last week, trailing on renewable energy ($DWCREE). Both groups appear poised to continue their rally based on their longer-term weekly technical outlook. Therefore, it's probably not a bad idea to look at stocks in these groups that pull... READ MORE
SPY began the week with a breakout on very high volume that subsequently looks like a minor blowoff, as price retreated back into the June trading range. The expansion of New Highs on Monday failed to match the climactic level of New Highs on June 2, and a PMO top... READ MORE
This is all about your fiscal fitness and future financial fate. Pay attention! I’ve written before about the indisputable number of academic studies proving asset allocation is the highest leverage activity that individual investors can focus on. Although this blog will touch upon this, it will be focused instead... READ MORE
.... SPY Breaks out of Flag Pattern .... QQQ Holds the Gap as IJR Forms Bull Flag .... Industrials and Healthcare Lead with New Highs .... Tech, Discretionary and Finance Lag a Bit .... First Supports for Materials, Staples and Utilities .... Energy - Enough Said .... Tech ETF Bounce from Oversold Levels .... Insurance and Regional Banks... READ MORE
The S&P 500 triggered a new PMO SELL signal yesterday at the close. Today, the S&P 100 joined in with its own PMO SELL signal. At this point, the Dow is the only one holding onto a PMO BUY signal, but a quick peek at the... READ MORE
BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN), like the overall biotech industry ($DJUSBT), has struggled for the past 18 months to clear overhead price resistance. But over the past couple trading sessions, we have seen one biotech company after another clear resistance on strong volume and accelerate. It appears that BMRN is awaiting its... READ MORE
LONGER MATURITY BONDS ARE RISING FASTER ... We can often get clues about market sentiment by comparing different parts of the fixed income universe. A lot has been written about the falling yield curve, which plots the difference between 10-Year and 2-Year Treasury yields. That usually signals expectations for lower inflation.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Biotechs ($DJUSBT) are the "semiconductors of healthcare". When they move, they move! Healthcare (XLV, +1.27%) was easily the best performing sector on Wednesday as the DJUSBT soared 3.43%. Unless we see a major reversal between today and tomorrow, we&... READ MORE
.... Vodafone in Dollars vs Pounds .... Index versus ETF versus Currency .... Emerging Markets ETF Hits Top of Channel .... Poland ETF Stalls within Uptrend .... China A-Shares ETF Breaks Out .... Italy and Spain Consolidate Gains .... Vodafone in Dollars vs Pounds Today I will take a look at some international ETFs. Before looking at... READ MORE
Today on MarketWatchers LIVE (airs M/W/F Noon - 1:30p EST) during the regular market updates, I noticed technology was rallying strongly. If you recall, the Nasdaq has been taking it on the chin more than the other major indexes on declines which is why the NDX is... READ MORE
Despite a strong stock market in 2017, AT&T ($T) is having a tough time with a breakdown in early May and a sharp decline below the 200-day SMA. The stock rebounded after a double-digit decline with a bounce back to the 200-day SMA, which is now falling. Thus,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, June 20, 2017 Healthcare (XLV, +0.33%) was one of just two sectors - utilities (XLU, +0.06%) was the other - to rise on Tuesday as much of Monday's gains was relinquished. The good news, however, is that biotechs ($DJUSBT) made a significant... READ MORE
No new signals yet on the DecisionPoint Scoreboards, but with index PMOs in decline, I suspect we will see some more if the bulls can't get a rally to stick. Last Friday, the OEX weekly PMO had a negative crossover SELL signal. The purpose of the DecisionPoint Alert... READ MORE
* The long-term setting * Short-term considerations * Some individual currencies are vulnerable over the short-term * Conclusion The long-term setting A few weeks ago I pointed out that the Dollar Index ($USD) had violated its bull market trendline, as well as the 65-week EMA and 12-month MA, two key long-term smoothings. That type... READ MORE
HEALTHCARE IS GETTING A LOT STRONGER ... I continue to believe that healthcare is one of the best values in the stock market. And it's attracting a lot of investor attention. Chart 1 shows the Health Care SPDR (XLV) trading at a new record high after clearing its mid-2015... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, June 19, 2017 Technology (XLK, +1.48%), healthcare (XLV, +1.04%) and financials (XLF, +1.03%) led a broad-based rally on Monday that included seven of the nine sectors. Only energy (XLE, -0.63%) and the defensive utilities (XLU, -0.33%) failed to participate in the... READ MORE
.... Big Techs Regain their Mojo .... Finance, Healthcare, Industrials and Materials Lead .... Short-term Yields Diverge from Long-term Yields .... Bank ETFs Stall after Breakouts .... Two Big Pharma Stocks: BMY and MRK .... 3 Hospital Stocks: HCA, LPNT, THC .... Four Networking Stocks: ARRS, CIEN, CSCO, FNSR .... XRX Breaks Out, FEYE Forms Flag and RLGY... READ MORE
TECHNOLOGY IS NOT THE STRONGEST SECTOR ... Although a rebound in technology is getting the most attention, it's not the main reason that stock indexes are hitting new highs. Most of that credit goes to financials and healthcare. The daily bars in Chart 1 show the Technology SPDR (XLK)... READ MORE
The Biotech SPDR (XBI) is starting to lead the market again with a consolidation breakout and 52-week high. The chart shows the ETF hitting an initial 52-week high in February and then consolidating for four months. It looks like this consolidation is ending and the bigger uptrend is resuming with... READ MORE
Special Announcement At 4:30pm EST this afternoon, just after the U.S. stock market closes, I'll be joining John Hopkins, President of EarningsBeats.com, for a special 90 minute presentation. John will discuss the benefits of trading companies that have reported strong quarterly revenues and earnings (ahead... READ MORE
I am not young anymore, so am going to reveal mistakes I made in the first half of my investing lifetime; about 1972 – 1990. Sadly, I did not learn lessons quickly so repeated some of them. These are not in any particular order. A better title might be True Confessions.... READ MORE
It's always nice to go back to the basics of technical analysis. Broken resistance becomes support. That's currently the case with Cerner Corp (CERN) where the stock recently cleared price resistance just above 65.00 and, with recent profit taking, we've seen a return... READ MORE
About three weeks ago I began looking for the market to consolidate or correct because of price being very overbought based upon its extreme departure from the 200EMA. So far we have two weeks of price churning sideways, and that has gotten the technical indicators in a condition that promises... READ MORE
History tells us many things. One of the lessons is that making money on the long side is much more difficult during the summer months. Why? It's rather simple. On the S&P 500 since 1950, here are the annualized returns by calendar months over the summer:... READ MORE
In 2011 Dr. Hank Pruden published a remarkable Point and Figure chart study, which called for a new bull market in stocks. The horizontal PnF counting method, as applied by Dr. Pruden, revealed a price objective of 17,600 / 19,200. That count produced a whopping 11,100 Dow Jones... READ MORE
The bar was 61.8 inches off the floor, but Leondardo still did not see it. All (bad) joking aside, I would like to look at corrections through the eyes of Charles Dow and Leonardo Fibonacci. These two may seem miles apart at first glance, but the numbers suggest otherwise.... READ MORE
On the last trading day of the week, the DecisionPoint IT Price Momentum Oscillator (PMO) signals go "final". Today saw a new weekly PMO SELL signal on the OEX. Some may recall that just last Friday the OEX triggered a weekly PMO BUY signal. Don't let... READ MORE
Ever since Wednesday's Fed rate hike, and the press conference by Janet Yellen, I've been thinking a lot about inflation. I believe the Fed is underestimating how weak inflation really is. I also believe that's because it's looking in the wrong places.... READ MORE
If you are looking for ways to manage risk in an increasingly volatile environment then you should start by searching for the "best of the best"; those companies that beat earnings expectations and have solid charts. This makes an awful lot of sense if you think about it;... READ MORE
Albert Einstein famously said, “If I had one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and five minutes implementing the solution.” If you were in a life threatening situation and had only one hour before it proved fatal, what would you do? Einstein said... READ MORE
CRB INDEX IS TRADING AT LOWEST LEVEL IN MORE THAN A YEAR... Ever since Wednesday's Fed rate hike, and the press conference by Janet Yellen, I've been thinking a lot about inflation. I believe the Fed is underestimating how weak inflation really is. I also believe... READ MORE
* New Highs in Six Major index ETFs * Index AD Lines Hit New Highs * Mid-cap and Small-cap AD Volume Lines Lag * SPY Forms High Flag as QQQ Tests Support * IJR Leads for Four Weeks * Finance and Materials Lead New High List * Finance and Regional Bank SPDRs Hold Breakouts * Chemicals Lead Materials... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, June 15, 2017 There's been marked improvement in the relative strength of industrials (XLI, +0.60%) in recent weeks and that was on full display Thursday. Despite all of our major indices finishing lower, the XLI managed to end the session in positive territory... READ MORE
No new signal changes to report, but I do want to mention that the PMO for the NDX continues lower with no hesitation. For the other three indexes, the PMO BUY signals are intact, but short-term PMOs are now all declining. The purpose of the DecisionPoint Alert Daily Update is... READ MORE
One look at the 10 year treasury yield's ($TNX) decline the past several months provides proof that the bond market isn't exactly agreeing with the Federal Reserve's stated position that they see economic improvement in the months ahead. The Fed announced on Wednesday that... READ MORE
.... Does the VIX Add Any Value? .... Setting the Benchmark .... System Ground Rules .... Consulting, Software and Data .... Normalizing the VIX with the PPO .... Testing Different PPO Extremes .... Testing with the VIX PPO Histogram .... Conclusions and Caveat Emptor .... Does the VIX Add Any Value? The S&P 500 Volatility Index ($VIX)... READ MORE