Stocks surged with a broad-based rally that lifted most boats. The major index ETFs were up over 1% with the Dow Diamonds (+1.46%) leading. All sector SPDRs were up over 1% with the Energy SPDR (+2.15%) leading. All small-caps sector ETFs were up with the SmallCap Consumer Staples... READ MORE
Industrial machinery ($DJUSFE) stocks have been consolidating in what some technicians might argue is a bullish inverse head & shoulders pattern. If the group does eventually see money rotate back into it, Colfax Corp (CFX) could be a direct beneficiary. CFX lost 40% of its market capitalization in the second... READ MORE
In the previous article on US sectors I mentioned Energy (XLE) and Consumer Discretionary (XLY) as sectors to watch for sector-rotation. XLE as being suspect and at risk for more or renewed under-performance and XLY as pushing further into the leading quadrant and thus expanding its out-performance. Looking at the... READ MORE
FINANCE SECTOR LEADS MARKET HIGHER... Link for today's video. Stocks moved higher in early trading on Monday with the finance sector showing some leadership. Despite today's gains, it has been a rough year for this sector because the Finance SPDR (XLF) is down year-to-date, the Equal-weight... READ MORE
I have always been a fan of equal-weighted indexes as opposed to capitalization-weighted indexes because equal-weighted indexes generally give us more bang for the buck. The reason is that cap-weighted indexes weight the constituents based upon their market capitalization; whereas, equal-weighted indexes give each constituent an equal weight in the... READ MORE
Stocks got slammed on Tuesday-Wednesday and firmed on Thursday-Friday. The S&P 500 fell from the 2110 area to the 2050 area and then moved into a rather tight trading range in the 2060 area. The resolution of this trading range could provide the next short-term signal. Either another... READ MORE
ALTERA AND INTEL LEAD CHIP BOUNCE... Semiconductors fell sharply on Wednesday and Thursday, and weighed heavily on the technology sector. Chart 1 shows the PHLX Semiconductor iShares (SOXX) falling all the way back to its 200-day moving average by Thursday. A big jump on Friday, however, pushed the SOXX up... READ MORE
QQQ AND SPY TEST SUPPORT... Programming note: Today's report will be brief, and there is no video, because I am on the road at the MTA symposium in NYC. Stocks were hit with selling pressure this week, but this was not enough to dislodge the bigger uptrends. Small-caps... READ MORE
Well, I suppose it depends on your view and what you believe in. For me, there's no question about it. The stock market can be timed as history repeats itself over and over and over again. The stock market timing that I'm talking about, though, isn&... READ MORE
I wrote about this subject nearly two years ago from my own personal perspective, but now I want to expand on the original blog and share with you the perspective of a well-known international portfolio manager on the same topic. Here’s what I wrote two years ago: https://stockcharts.... READ MORE
I am on the road Thursday-Friday so this update will be brief. All the charts have been updated. For what it is worth, I am attending the MTA symposium in New York. The bulk of the short-term evidence turned bearish with Wednesday's decline and remains bearish. The bigger... READ MORE
I was asked a question recently about how we can use the Price Momentum Oscillator (PMO) in conjunction with the Trend Model or which do I rely on most when making investment decisions. In a general sense, I prefer to use the PMO with Trend Model confirmations or positive Trend... READ MORE
Stocks were hit with broad selling pressure and fell sharply on Wednesday. QQQ and IWM led the way lower with 2+ percent declines. Eight of the nine sectors were down with techs leading the way. Energy stocks bucked the selling pressure as crude bounced. Techs were hit with heavy selling... READ MORE
* The NYSE Composite breaks out against the S&P 500. * The SPY/EFA (US against the world) ratio completes a top. * The S&P Europe 350 (IEV) breaks out against the S&P 500. * The DB Commodity ETF is close to an important down trend line violation.... READ MORE
Lexmark (LXK) announced after the closing bell on Tuesday that it was acquiring enterprise software company Kofax (KFX) for $1 billion, its largest acquisition in its history. Traders were initially excited by the announcement, driving LXK's stock price higher by more than 11% and LXK cleared bullish wedge... READ MORE
Trading was mixed again on Tuesday. Selling pressure hit SPY, QQQ and MDY, but IJR and IWM finished slightly positive. The finance and utilities sectors led the way lower. The Home Construction iShares (ITB) and Home Builders SPDR (XHB) bucked the selling pressure and finished with nice gains. The Retail... READ MORE
Since reaching and nearly capturing all-time highs, price has been declining. The rounded top on the 10-minute bar chart is clear and implies price will continue lower. There is an area of support nearby at the 3/19 low, but I believe that will be taken out quickly. The purpose... READ MORE
FOUR RISK RATIOS FOR THE STOCK MARKET... The following charts are from today's Webinar (click here). Chartists can enhance their broad stock market analysis by adding indicators that measure risk appetite. Today I am going to show four stock-specific ratios that will give us an idea of the... READ MORE
The aerospace industry ($DJUSAS) is a component of the industrial sector (XLI). Industrials have been a key driver of the S&P 500 since the turn of the century. There's a clear relative uptrend channel in play that was broken temporarily in 2009 as the 2007-2009 bear... READ MORE
Stocks traded flat most of the day on Monday and then got hit with some selling pressure in the final ten minutes and the major index ETFs closed slightly lower. The sectors were mixed with some modest selling pressure hitting the Industrials SPDR (XLI) and the Finance SPDR (XLF). The... READ MORE
TILE is an industrial goods company that designs, produces and sells modular carpet products internationally. Strong quarterly results reported in February, exceeding Wall Street estimates, has sent TILE's shares surging 27% higher in just the past month. Major overhead price resistance is approaching, however, so it will be... READ MORE
A MOST STEADY UPTREND FOR LARGE-CAPS... Link for today's video. There is definitely a lot of noise out there on a daily basis, but the uptrends in the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) and Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) are remarkably steady on the weekly charts. Chart 1... READ MORE
When prices arc upward at ever-increasing speed, they form a parabolic curve, which should cause us to feel ever-increasing caution. With parabolic moves we never know when the final top will arrive because of the frenzy of buying driving the move, but we know that vertical moves cannot be sustained,... READ MORE
Stocks finished the week strong with QQQ, MDY and IWM leading the way. Large-caps also finished strong as the Dollar fell. Eight of the nine sectors finished higher. The Materials SPDR (XLB) was the only sector to finish lower on the week and show relative weakness. Regional Banks showed relative... READ MORE
Both the Russell 2000 Index ($RUT) and S&P 600 Small Cap Index (SML) broke out to all-time highs last week as money continued to rotate towards aggressive small cap stocks and that should be seen as a bullish sign for equities. In the case of the $RUT, a... READ MORE
With the market bottoming and taking a positive turn, I decided it might be a good time to review the results of one of my favorite and nicely discriminating short-term scans. It looks for stocks that are in a positive configuration of the 50/200-EMAs; meaning 50-EMA > 200-EMA which... READ MORE
I made my ChartWatchers debut in the last issue and wanted to reiterate that my focus is on all things, "Beyond Technical Analysis". In other words, my assumption is that the majority of eyeballs reading my articles are anywhere from somewhat to very skilled in technical analysis. So... READ MORE
After a brief pause on Thursday, global markets resumed the bullish tone that started after the Fed's dovish statement on Wednesday. With the Fed scaling back on its plans to hike short-term rates later this year, markets acted accordingly. Treasury yields plunged to the lowest level in more... READ MORE
FED EFFECT CONTINUES ON FRIDAY... After a brief pause on Thursday, global markets resumed the bullish tone that started after the Fed's dovish statement on Wednesday. With the Fed scaling back on its plans to hike short-term rates later this year, markets acted accordingly. Treasury yields plunged to... READ MORE
It was a big week for Treasury bonds, the 10-YR Treasury Yield and the Utilities SPDR. XLU fell sharply as yields surged in February, but rebounded this week as Treasury yields fell. Overall, the big trend for XLU appears to be up with a series of higher highs and higher... READ MORE
* The RS between US equities and the rest of the world could be about to break against the US. * The GLD breaks above its intermediate down trendline. * Silver experiences a false move to the downside, thereby leaving it free to move higher. The Dollar and Related Markets. Has the US... READ MORE
The Relative Rotation Graph holding a number of ETFs tracking various asset classes continues to be dominated, or distorted if you wish, by the two asset classes that are moving far away from the center for quite some time already. Regular readers of this blog will recognize VNQ (Vanguard REIT... READ MORE
HEALTHCARE AND CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY LEAD SMALL-CAPS ... Link for today's video. Small-caps led the market higher this week as the Russell 2000 and S&P Small-Cap 600 hit new highs. As with the S&P 500, the S&P Small-Cap 600 can be divided into nine... READ MORE
Technology has outperformed every other sector over the past year - except for healthcare. So it begs the question - is there any more gas left in the technology tank? We've seen money rotate to various sectors throughout the past year. Most of the industry groups within technology... READ MORE
Even though the pattern is a bit big, the gaps fit and it looks like Twitter (TWTR) traced out a large island reversal from late October to early February. The stock gapped below 45, traded below this gap for a few months and then gapped above 45. The result is... READ MORE
I only trade the strongest and prettiest equities in the market. I’ve written before about how I leave my deep value purchases to the Sequoias and Fairholme Funds of the world. With my own stocks, the challenge is how to ascertain if one equity is stronger and prettier than... READ MORE
Stocks were mixed on Thursday. QQQ and IWM closed fractionally higher, but SPY and DIA edged lower. Finance weighed on the market as the Finance SPDR (XLF) lost .93%. The Materials SPDR (XLB) and Energy SPDR (XLE) were also weak with declines greater than 1.5%. Pretty much anything oil-related... READ MORE
I wrote in the last issue of ChartWatchers that the DecisionPoint Intermediate-Term Trend Model went on a Neutral signal. The first signal change since the BUY signal had originally generated on January 17, 2014! Well, it was a short-lived signal as today, 2 weeks later, the Trend Model generated a... READ MORE
I'm not ready to give up on this bull market. While anything is certainly possible, traders are not positioning themselves for a steep market decline. Perhaps we'll see a bit of selling, maybe even a correction, but the longer-term bull market still remains intact in my... READ MORE
When I was doing research on my book, I found that many places that offered performance data often did so in a manner that was specific for what their intended message was or tied to what they were selling. Having a strong understanding of market performance over time is important;... READ MORE