First, U.S. markets are closed today in observance of the Christmas holiday. Second, my regular Trading Places article which covers the prior days market action, in addition to pre-market action, the current outlook, sector/industry watch, historical tendencies and earnings and economic reports, will be back Tuesday morning as... READ MORE
I ran a scan of NASDAQ 100 stocks with RSIs between 40-45 and it returned eight stocks - ATVI, BIDU, FB, JD, PCLN, QVCA, VIAB, VOD. I ran this scan because RSI 40-45 many times offers up great support to an uptrending stock. So the next step, of course, was... READ MORE
At this time of year, it’s one distraction wave after another. Admit it. Your investing efforts take a back seat to shopping, socializing, decorating, drinking and feasting. Just pick your poison. In addition, many of you head off to warmer climates, as you should. As an investor or trader,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, December 22, 2016 Yesterday's action here in the U.S. had a short-term bearish tone to it, but there were certainly no price breakdowns and no reason to believe it was anything other than a bout of profit taking during a continuing bull market... READ MORE
Applied Materials (AMAT) printed a shooting star candlestick on Thursday, with a long-term negative divergence in play on both its daily and weekly charts, signs of slowing momentum to the upside from both an intermediate- and long-term perspective. AMAT, just a few days ago, printed a reversing dark cloud cover... READ MORE
Rethinking Healthcare .... Breadth Indicators for Healthcare Remain Net Bearish .... Biotech ETFs Extend the Long Stall .... HealthCare Providers ETF Holds Bull Flag .... Medical Devices ETF Firms in Potential Reversal Zone .... Telecoms Surge along with Treasury Yields .... Yield Curve Turns Up .... 2007 Comparison Suggests Room-to-Run for XLF .... Do Dividends Matter? .... Regional Banks... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, December 21, 2016 Energy (XLE, +0.16%) was one of just two sectors that headed higher on Wednesday with materials (XLB, +0.4%) being the only other. That wasn't enough to carry the market higher as our major indices all finished fractionally lower on... READ MORE
* Twenty thousand, a media point on the charts * The real 20,000 event * International markets that deserve a closer look Twenty thousand, a media point on the charts For some time, our friends in the media have been touting Dow 20,000 ($INDU) as if something magical is going to... READ MORE
ADX AND RSI LINES ISSUE WARNINGS... My last couple of messages have repeated the idea that the post-election stock rally looks stretched. Last Friday's message showed the stock/bond ratio, the value/growth ratio, and the transportation/utilities ratio also in overbought territory. Momentum and seasonal factors are... READ MORE
The Relative Rotation Graph above holds a number of (world) equity indices compared to the FTSE all world index as the benchmark, using daily data. For those of you who are following my regular RRG blog, this means a shorter-term view than you are used to from me. The rotations... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, December 20, 2016 Treasuries were sold off on Tuesday with the corresponding 10 year treasury yield ($TNX) moving back up to 2.57%. The recent high was 2.60% so the TNX is not far from another new high. Of course, the bounce in the TNX... READ MORE
I have a variety of StockCharts technical alerts set up. As a result, I receive emails whenever the entities in my alert ChartList receives new Trend Model signals and Price Momentum Oscillator (PMO) crossover signals. Today I received an alert that the Utilities SPDR (XLU) triggered a new Intermediate-Term Trend... READ MORE
Market Recap for December 19, 2016 Over the past three months, technology (XLK) has been the 6th best performing industry group, beating out only the three defensive groups - consumer staples (XLP), utilities (XLU) and healthcare (XLV). But the XLK is not in bad shape technically. Instead, we've... READ MORE
SPY Stalls with 3 Inside Days .... QQQ Stalls after New High .... Four Flags for Four Sector SPDRs .... Housing ETFs Pullback within Uptrend .... A Large Continuation Pattern for HACK .... Metals & Mining SPDR Becomes Oversold .... Webinar Preview .... //// .... SPY Stalls with 3 Inside Days .... The major index ETFs stalled over the last... READ MORE
The HealthCare SPDR (XLV), Consumer Staples SPDR (XLP) and Utilities SPDR (XLU) are lagging the broader market in 2016, but they are now challenging their 200-day moving averages with bounces this month. The chart below shows these three sectors peaking in July-August and moving lower the last four to five... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, December 16, 2016 Utilities (XLU, +1.22%) soared on Friday and came very close to a breakout above reverse head & shoulders neckline resistance. This is also very near overhead trendline resistance as well. While we don't want to see the defensive utilities sector... READ MORE
Why is it that many will believe almost anything they hear or read? You need to learn to only pay attention to the facts. Let me offer a recent real-time event and some of the wild imagination used by the experts about what happened. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a scheduled... READ MORE
My last article on asset allocation was posted just before election day (11/8), and I was not happy about the rotation for equities against bonds... What a difference a week makes. The relative rotation graph above shows the rotation of various asset classes, represented by ETFs, over the past... READ MORE
Ryder System (R) was having a huge 2016 until the past several days. Profit taking has kicked in and R has dropped 10% in that brief span. The obvious question from a trader's perspective is.....when does it make sense to jump in on the long side. Well,... READ MORE
Last week I wrote about the ongoing bull market -- the secular bull market, beginning in 2009, and, displayed on the chart, the cyclical bull that began in February of this year. But in spite of a broad market rally, individual sectors are not uniformly bullish. Of the ten sectors... READ MORE
We're two weeks away from another stock market year in the books. Where does the time go? Anyhow, since this is the last ChartWatchers newsletter of 2016, it would be an appropriate time to check out the best and worst industry group awards for 2016. Drum roll please!... READ MORE
Several market messages over the past couple of months used relative strength ratios to paint a more bullish picture of the stock market, and a more bearish picture for bonds. While those ratios have strengthened considerably, especially since the election, I'm a little concerned that they're... READ MORE
Looking back over this soon to be concluded year could be a very useful exercise. Let us put a twist on this ‘lookback’ to supercharge the exercise and improve our Wyckoff Method of trading. Mental rehearsal can be a valuable technique for strengthening trading skills. With this technique we take... READ MORE
Last week's System Trader article tested a mean reversion system using 5-day RSI for entries and exits. This article will test a system using 5-day RSI for entries and the Chandelier Exit for exits. This is an attempt to trail the stop-loss and ride some winners. This is... READ MORE
Even though the finance, energy and industrials sectors are grabbing most of the headlines these days, the tech sector is doing just fine with the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ), the Nasdaq 100 EW ETF (QQEW), the Technology SPDR (XLK) and the EW Technology ETF (RYT) hitting new highs this week.... READ MORE
A webinar viewer recently sent me a chart showing put/call ratios nearing extreme lows. I pulled up the chart and indeed, the 10-DMA of the put/call ratios are nearing or are at two-year lows. What does this actually mean? As the ratio gets smaller and smaller, that means... READ MORE
* Three steps and a stumble * Interest rates are now driving the US Dollar * Charts for the Euro, Yen and Swiss Franc continue to erode Three steps and a stumble The late great Edson Gould coined the term “Three Steps And A Stumble”. He was referring to his observation that when... READ MORE
You can’t download stock market wisdom. You have to experience it firsthand and practice it. In a nutshell, that is precisely what these Action Practice blogs every two weeks are all about. The previous Action Practice (#7) presents a tool for uncovering individual investors’ tolerances for risks and rewards.... READ MORE
STOCK/BOND RATIO IS OVERBOUGHT... Several market messages over the past couple of months used relative strength ratios to paint a more bullish picture of the stock market, and a more bearish picture for bonds. While those ratios have strengthened considerably, especially since the election, I'm a little... READ MORE
Setting the Market Environment with One Chart .... Marking First Support for SPY .... QQQ Breaks out of Consolidation .... Tech Stocks are Still Leading ..... XLV Follows Through on Weekly Hammer .... Biotech ETFs Attempt to Firm .... //// .... I am starting with my most important chart for the stock market. This is my go-to chart... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, December 15, 2016 With treasury yields on the rise again, it wasn't surprising to see financials (XLF, +0.85%) on top of the sector leaderboard. The problem, however, is that we're beginning to see slowing price momentum on key industry groups -... READ MORE
I was first introduced to Relative Rotation Graphs (RRGs) at the 2014 ChartCon. I was blown away by its simplicity and visual impact. Julius de Kempenaer, a fellow blogger here at StockCharts developed RRGs. I would direct you to ChartSchool to read more about the inner workings that create these... READ MORE
Healthcare stocks (XLV) have been underperforming the benchmark S&P 500 for the past 4-5 months, but they're beginning to show some life as the XLV has been the best performing sector ETF over the last week. Recently, I noticed pharmaceuticals testing a major price support level... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, December 14, 2016 As expected, volatility kicked in around 2pm EST yesterday as the Fed delivered what traders most likely anticipated, but still didn't want to hear. Rates are going higher. Everyone was looking for the 25 basis point hike so that didn'... READ MORE
There has been a big change to intraday data for S&P Dow Jones Indices and chartists using volume indicators should take this into consideration. Basically, S&P Dow Jones started using data from the "Consolidated Tape of all recognized U.S. exchanges". This change resulted... READ MORE
FED OFFERS SLIGHTLY STEEPER PATH FOR 2017... The Fed surprised no one today one by raising short-term rates by a quarter of a point. It did, however, offer a steeper path for rate hikes in 2017. That may have caught more attention. Bond yields climbed which boosted bank stocks initially.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, December 13, 2016 Well it's Fed day and both equity and bond markets are prepared for a quarter point rate hike. The big question, however, is whether the market is ready to hear what the Fed has to say about future policy guidance. Will... READ MORE
If you haven't gotten John Murphy's Book, Trading with Intermarket Analysis, I highly recommend you do. He talks at length about sector rotation and how it can help you determine where the market is and could likely be headed. The graphic above shows us the economic... READ MORE
Last weeks RRG blog looked at the sector ETFs that make up the S&P 500 index. Materials, the XLB ETF, came out as one of the, more promising, sectors on its way to the leading quadrant. In this post, I will look into the individual stocks that make... READ MORE
----- Webinar Video ----- Art's Charts ChartList ----- SPY Hits Yet Another New High .... QQQ and IJR Remain with Active Signals .... Small-caps Lead Large-caps All the Way Around .... Lagging Sectors Pop and Lead for a Week .... XLV Gaps Up and Breaks Out .... Biotechs Pop and Drop .... TASR and... READ MORE