It's been quite confusing for several reasons, a few of which are discussed below. Historically, the S&P 500 nearly always struggles during the balance of a calendar year in which January performance is weak. In January 2014, the S&P 500 fell 3.56%, ranking... READ MORE
Another week and another gain. Most of the major index ETFs moved to new highs again last week to affirm the uptrends. IWM hit a new high intraday, but has yet to close above the March high. The Russell MicroCap iShares (IWC) is still a few percentage points below its... READ MORE
STOCKS MOVE INTO OFFENSIVE MODE... Link for today's video. The stock market stepped it up another gear with big gains and new highs. Most of the major index ETFs recorded new highs this month already. The Russell 2000 iShares (IWM) hit an intraday new high last week and... READ MORE
Relative weakness in the consumer discretionary sector was a concern a month ago, but not anymore. The first PerfChart shows the Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY), the Technology SPDR (XLK), the Energy SPDR (XLE) and the HealthCare SPDR (XLV) leading since June 3rd. XLY really came to life this past week... READ MORE
Have you ever met a famous investor at a cocktail party or event, taken his or her advice on a stock and lost money? You are not alone. It may have been a sensational timely trade and the famous one made a 30% gain in four weeks while you held... READ MORE
GOOD NEWS ON EMPLOYMENT CONTINUES GLOBAL MARKETS SURGE... The month of July has continued the positive push that June had going. With the big surge on July 1, the Wednesday market closed with a small consolidation candle. Today's shortened trading session pushed up to new highs on the... READ MORE
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It was a short week, but stocks moved higher with eight of the nine sectors gaining. As the PerfChart below shows, the consumer discretionary and technology sectors led with 2+ percent gains. The utilities sector was the lone loser with a 2.83% loss. Also notice that the consumer staples... READ MORE
Standard & Poors has just finalized the S&P 500 earnings for the first quarter of 2014, and although there is some talk of an equities bubble, the market is merely overvalued. The following chart shows the S&P 500 with bands that show where the index would... READ MORE
Stocks followed up Tuesday's gains with a mixed trading day on Wednesday. Small-caps and mid-caps came under selling pressure as MDY and IWM fell around .50%. Large-caps held on to their gains as SPY and QQQ finished fractionally higher. Indecisive trading the day before a three day weekend... READ MORE
Periodically I like to do a review of the charts in the DecisionPoint Gallery, available in the 'free' area of StockCharts.com. You'll find the link to the gallery on the home page. First is the $SPX daily chart. I've annotated the intermediate-term ascending... READ MORE
Apollo (APOL) hit resistance at broken support last week and then formed a shooting star this week. This shooting star represents a failed intraday rally. Notice how the stock surged to 32 on Tuesday and then fell to close near 31. This failure also occurred when the market rallied on... READ MORE
COPPER PRICES HIT FIVE-MONTH HIGH... Copper prices are turning in a strong performance. Chart 1 shows the September 2014 futures contract (^HGU14) climbing sharply to reach a five-month high (see arrow). The industrial metal has also climbed over its 200-day moving average. Chart 2 shows that rise also being reflected... READ MORE
Stocks caught a big bid on Tuesday with small-caps and big techs leading the way. IWM and QQQ gained over 1%. The gains were not that excessive and this market advance continues to be quite incremental. In other words, the daily gains are not excessive, such as 2-3%, but the... READ MORE
SMALL AND MID CAP ETFS HIT NEW HIGHS... Link for today's video. The S&P MidCap 400 (MDY) and S&P SmallCap iShares (IJR) were lagging the S&P 500 SPDR and Nasdaq 100 ETF in late May, but started playing catch up in June... READ MORE
There are five setups today. First, we start with an insurance stock that formed a bullish consolidation after a breakout. Next up is a railroad with a triangle after a breakout. The third stock is a small aluminum company with a recent wedge breakout. Fourth, we feature a multi-level marketing... READ MORE
Stocks were again mixed on Monday. Large-caps lagged as the Dow Diamonds and S&P 500 SPDR closed fractionally lower. Small-caps led as the Russell 2000 iShares closed near last week's high. Techs also showed some relative strength as the Nasdaq 100 ETF hit another new high.... READ MORE
Michael Kors (KORS) led the market in February with a massive gap and new high, but the stock has fallen on hard time in June with a trend line break and relative breakdown. On the price chart, KORS broke the internal trend line and support zone with a sharp decline... READ MORE
REGIONAL BANK SPDR STALLS AFTER BIG MOVE... Link for today's video. Chart 1 shows the Regional Bank SPDR (KRE) holding support near the 37 area and surging above 39 in early June. Overall, the trend on the weekly chart is up because the ETF hit a new high... READ MORE
Stocks were hit with bouts of selling pressure on Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning, but finished the week on a strong note. Overall, the major index ETFs were mixed for the week. QQQ gained 1.06%, SPY was down .06% and IWM rose .08%. The sectors were also mixed with... READ MORE
COMMODITIES AND STOCKS WERE TOP FIRST HALF PERFORMERS... With the first half of the year coming to a close, it's a good time to study the relative performances of the various asset classes. Chart 1 shows that commodities and stocks were the two biggest gainers -- and in... READ MORE
STOCKS STALL, BUT SELLING PRESSURE REMAINS SUBDUED... Link for today's video. After hitting a new high last week, the Russell 1000 iShares (IWB) was hit with sudden selling pressure on Tuesday afternoon. This reversal day certainly looked negative on an intraday or candlestick chart, but it was not... READ MORE
A powerful profit-enhancing tool has just been refined and put on steroids. Back in December of 2013, I wrote a blog titled “Possibly the Single Best Visual Analysis Chart Ever.” Bill, my good friend at Stockcharts.com, is an exceptional developer, and he figured out a way to make this... READ MORE
Stocks were mixed on Thursday with the Nasdaq 100 ETF edging higher (.05%) and the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) edging lower (-.07%). Five sector SPDRs were up and four were down. Finance and consumer staples led the way lower with small losses. Utilities, healthcare and energy led... READ MORE
OLD TECH LEADERS RESUME PUSH TO TRY FOR HIGHER HIGHS... While the Nasdaq 100 ($NDX) shown in Chart 1 has pushed above the March 6th highs, some of the high momentum leaders like Amazon (AMZN) have remained well back as shown on Chart 2. AMZN is still struggling with the... READ MORE
Spot Sugar ($SUGAR) has been in a downtrend for years, but this commodity may be turning the corner with a higher low and falling wedge. The chart below shows the Sugar ETN (SGG) surging in February and then correcting with a falling wedge the last 3-4 months. The ETF reversed... READ MORE
After an outside day and weak close on Tuesday, stocks rebounded on Wednesday and the major index ETFs closed modestly higher. Small-caps led the way lower on Tuesday and the way higher on Wednesday. Eight of the nine sectors were up with consumer discretionary, healthcare, materials and energy leading. Consumer... READ MORE
There are six setups today. First, we start tech stock that formed a high-tight flag. Second, there is a big pharma stock that is lagging the group, but formed a breakaway gap on big volume. Third, we have a bottom pick play for a sporting good store. Fourth, there is... READ MORE
SEASONAL LOWS SETTING UP IN CORN AND WHEAT... Corn ($CORN) has a six month cyclical pattern where it marks significant sudden reversals as shown in Chart 1. The July 1 period is extremely volatile. The June 30 release of the crop report is one of the main reasons for the... READ MORE
Chartists can find stocks and ETFs on the move using the six tables in the middle of the home page. The image below shows four of these tables: most active Nasdaq and NYSE stocks, large-cap SCTR movers and SCTR movers for ETFs. Notice that Facebook and CBS are up strong... READ MORE
The two cornerstone indicators for DecisionPoint analysis are the PMO and the intermediate- and long-term Trend Models. The DP ETF Tracker report, found in the DecisionPoint Trackers blog, lists not only percentage changes and PMO relative strength for the select ETFs we follow, it lists the PMO BUY and SELL... READ MORE
BOND YIELD CONTINUES TO WEAKEN... The daily bars in Chart 1 show the 10-Year Treasury Note Yield ($TNX) falling to the lowest level in a month. It also remains below moving average lines. Part of the yield drop may be the result of some flight to the safety of Treasury... READ MORE
Stocks started the day strong, but peaked near midday and fell in the afternoon. The major index ETFs formed outside days with a bearish bias. This means Tuesday's high-low range was outside Monday's high-low range and Tuesday's close was weak. One day does not... READ MORE
* Several market averages experience bearish outside days. * NASDAQ Composite forms bearish Pinocchio bar * Brokers leading the market lower * Further dollar weakness anticipated * Gold just below key resistance * Commodities break out from a nice base US Equities I have been saying for several weeks that the market is overextended but that... READ MORE
The MarketCarpet for the nine S&P sectors turned mostly red on Tuesday with seven sectors down and just two up. Utilities and healthCare were the only two holding on to their gains in the late afternoon. Notice that energy is the darkest red. This means stocks in this... READ MORE
NASDAQ 100 ETF STAYS OVERBOUGHT AND BULLISH... Link for today's video. Chart 1 shows the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) leading the market with a modest gain and a new high on Tuesday. Yes, the overbought simply become even more overbought. QQQ broke resistance in the 90-91 area and... READ MORE
There are five setups today. First, we start with an engineering concern that formed a triangle after a big surge. Second, there is a major aircraft maker with a gap and support break. Third, we have a healthcare stock with a bullish breakout in the works. Fourth, there is a... READ MORE
The energizer bunny continues to power the stock market higher. Stocks have been considered overbought several times over the last few weeks, but the uptrend simply trumps everything. Small-caps led the advance last week as the Russell 2000 iShares surged 2.3%. All sectors were up with energy and utilities... READ MORE
Tibco Software (TIBX) has been all over the place the last five weeks. The stock gapped up in late May, gapped down in early June, bounced to 21 and then gapped down again last Friday. Despite all this volatility, the stock may be at support now. Notice that a rare... READ MORE
BASE METALS ETF HITS FOUR-MONTH HIGH... Link for today's video. Chart 1 shows the Base Metals ETF (DBB) making waves with a resistance breakout and four-month high. I featured DBB in the Market Message on June 2nd as it challenged resistance and on June 9th as an inverse... READ MORE