Stocks went on a tear the last two weeks with all indices and sectors moving higher. In the past week, we saw fresh 52-week highs in the Russell 2000 (small-caps), Nasdaq (techs) and the S&P 500 (broader market). These new highs affirm the long-term uptrends in stocks and... READ MORE
Hello Fellow ChartWatchers! Whether you realize it or not, all ChartWatchers are on a journey of self-improvement. We are all trying to become better stock market investors. As users of StockCharts, our journeys have many similar paths and common milestones. See if you recognize the steps that I have described... READ MORE
The U.S. dollar continues to weaken. Chart 1 shows the PowerShares US Dollar Bullish Fund (UUP) falling to the lowest level since the third quarter of 2011. One of the side-effects of a falling dollar is that it gives a boost to gold. And it's doing just... READ MORE
A month ago the market seemed to be setting up for an intermediate-term correction. On the month-old chart below we can see a bearish rising wedge accompanied by negative divergences in price, breadth, and volume. Our comments at the time: "We expect the SPX to correct down to the... READ MORE
GOOGLE AND PRICELINE JOIN THE FOUR-FIGURE CLUB... Link for today's video. With a positive earnings report stoking the bulls, Google surged over 10% and joined the thousand Dollar stock club on Friday. Actually, the club is pretty small with only Google (GOOG) and priceline.com hitting the $1000... READ MORE
I was fortunate to spend a couple of days in San Francisco at the annual conference of the International Federation of Technical Analysts (IFTA). The event is unique on two fronts. One is that approximately 60% of the attendees are from outside the USA. The second is that this group... READ MORE
The S&P Equal Weight ETF (RSP) is up some 1.81% over the past month, but the Equal-weight Consumer Discretionary ETF (RCD) and Equal-weight Technology ETF (RYT) are up much less. These two "offensive sectors" are underperforming the broader market. In contrast, the Equal-weight Utilities ETF... READ MORE
There are some minor divergences brewing, but the overall picture remains positive for stocks. The market is clearly strong as four of the five major index ETFs surged to new highs this week. The Dow SPDR (DIA) is the lone laggard because it remains below its September high. Breadth remains... READ MORE
Stocks continued their march higher with interest rate sensitive issues leading the charge. The Utilities SPDR (XLU) led the sectors higher with a 1.62% gain and the Home Construction iShares (ITB) surged above the mid September trend line. The 20+ Year T-Bond ETF (TLT) broke falling flag resistance and... READ MORE
IBM, also known as big blue, is weighing on the market with a gap down and 52-week low. This is not the first sign of weakness though. Notice that the stock peaked way back in March and its 50-day crossed below its 200-day in early August. The price relative (IBM:... READ MORE
U.S. DOLLAR INDEX FALLS TO TWO-YEAR LOW... The U.S. dollar continues to weaken. Chart 1 shows the PowerShares US Dollar Bullish Fund (UUP) falling to the lowest level since the third quarter of 2011. One of the side-effects of a falling dollar is that it gives a boost... READ MORE
The government reopened as congress passed a deal and the president signed off. That is the good news. The bad news is that this process will repeat itself early next year. This would be funny, if it weren't so sad. Stocks, however, don't seem to care... READ MORE
ALTR Breaks Channel Resistance. CHRW Hits Resistance at Gap. Plus JNPR, LEN and WY Video is at top. Individual charts are below. **This chart analysis is for educational purposes only, and should not be construed as a recommendation to buy, sell or sell-short said securities** Click here for iPad/iPhone... READ MORE
The Finance SPDR (XLF) led the market higher with a 1.83% surge on Wednesday. With this move, XLF is challenging triangle resistance and the September high. A breakout would signal a continuation of the bigger uptrend and argue for new highs. The indicator window shows the price relative (XLF:... READ MORE
STOCK TRADE HIGHER WEDNESDAY MORNING... Stocks shrugged off yesterday's late selloff to trade higher this morning. Investors apparently believe that politicians in Washington can't be reckless enough to push the U.S. into default. The first three charts show the recent improvement in three major U.... READ MORE
Despite a few negative dips, Nasdaq 100 High-Low Percent ($NDXHLP) has been mostly positive throughout 2013. The red arrows show the brief, and shallow, dips into positive territory. Last week's dip did not last long as High-Low Percent surged to 15% this week. A downtrend is pretty much... READ MORE
The on-off deal in Washington DC was off on the open and back on by the close. Accordingly, stocks opened weak and closed strong with the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) and Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) hitting new highs. This means small-caps and big techs are showing relative strength, which is... READ MORE
AMD Challenges Key Level with Volume. PENN Forms Continuation Pattern after Breakout. Plus PFE, RDC, RF, STI Video is at top. Individual charts are below. **This chart analysis is for educational purposes only, and should not be construed as a recommendation to buy, sell or sell-short said securities** Click here... READ MORE
THREE OF FOUR OFFENSIVE SECTORS ARE STILL OUTPERFORMING ... Link for today's video. The Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY), Finance SPDR (XLF) and Technology SPDR (XLK) are perhaps the three most important sectors in the stock market. The consumer discretionary sector is the most economically sensitive sector, the technology sector... READ MORE
Signs of hope dissipated over the weekend as the war of words took over in Washington. It is hard to say what is a negotiating ploy and what it substantive. One this seems for sure though: this is going to go down to the wire and any deal will likely... READ MORE
The Oil Equipment & Services industry was hot on Monday with several stocks hitting new highs. Chartists can find a list of new highs on the pre-defined scans page, which is updated throughout the trading day. This list can be sorted by sector or industry group by clicking the column... READ MORE
SPY GAPS AND BREAKS FLAG RESISTANCE... Link for today's video. Signs of hope in Washington spurred buyers on Thursday as the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) gapped up and broke flag resistance with a big move. Technically, the gap and breakout are short-term bullish until proven otherwise.... READ MORE
I’m off to a conference this week for the International Federation of Technical Analysts (IFTA). Why am I going? What do I hope to get out it? When you go to investment gatherings, what are your expectations? I’ve garnered essential benefits from a wide variety of seminars and... READ MORE
The StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) for Vulcan Materials surged above 50 to record the second biggest SCTR gain among S&P 500 stocks. On the price chart, the stock broke resistance with the Septmeber surge and broken resistance turned support as a bull flag formed. A break above flag... READ MORE
Stocks pulled back in early October, but the long-term uptrends were never in jeopardy and the indicator summary stayed green the entire time. Net New Highs for the Nasdaq and NYSE dipped to the zero line earlier this week, but bounced with Thursday's stock market surge. The trends... READ MORE
Stocks surged on hopes of a deal in Washington. Is this hope justified or will we be back at a stalemate in a few days? Should traders fade the rally or does this rally have legs? Personally, I think this rally is based on short covering and there is little... READ MORE
OFFER TO EXTEND U.S. DEBT LIMIT... A Republican offer to extend the debt limit deadline for several weeks appears to include the compromise financial markets were hoping for. Stocks surged all over the world, especially economically-sensitive groups tied to economic growth. While all sectors are jumping today, the biggest... READ MORE
The finance sector is leading Thursday's market rebound with all stocks in the sector showing gains in early trading. The image below shows the market carpet for the finance sector and all components are green today. The top five are up over 3% and even the bottom five... READ MORE
Stocks started the day weak, but caught a lunchtime bid and bounced off their morning lows. There was no follow through to this bounce as the major index ETFs fell back in the final hour and ended the day mixed. Large-caps gained as the Dow SPDR (DIA) and S&... READ MORE
AAPL Forms Bullish Continuation Pattern. APH Firms at Support with Good Volume. Plus CL, CVS, FLO, TEVA Video is at top. Individual charts are below. **This chart analysis is for educational purposes only, and should not be construed as a recommendation to buy, sell or sell-short said securities** Click here... READ MORE
CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY SPDR BREAKS SUPPORT ... Link for today's video. Stocks are trading off their lows on Wednesday afternoon, but sharp declines on Tuesday did some technical damage and this damage has yet to be undone. It is still a tricky time for trading because any kind of breakthrough... READ MORE
After recording new highs just a few weeks ago, the darlings of the stock market were hit hard as traders sold risk and sought relative safety. LinkedIn (LKND), Tesla (TSLA), Yelp (YELP) and RackSpace (RAX) fell more than 9% in the last five days. All eight stocks in the PerfChart... READ MORE
Stocks took it on the chin with broad-based selling pressure on Tuesday. The Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) and Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) led the way and broke short-term support levels. This means IWM and QQQ have joined SPY and DIA with downtrends. The Home Construction iShares (ITB) led the consumer... READ MORE
The Utilities SPDR (XLU) is battling the rising 200-day moving average for the third time in five months. Since surging above 38 in mid September, the ETF pulled back with a falling wedge. Buyers stepped in near the 200-day as the ETF moved above the wedge trend line early Tuesday.... READ MORE
NYSE BULLISH PERCENT INDEX SHOWS NEGATIVE DIVERGENCE... A number of technical indicators are showing "negative divergence" from stock market indexes. That's normally a warning sign that the underpinnings of a stock market rally are weakening beneath the surface. Let's start with the NYSE Bullish... READ MORE
Stocks opened weak, bounced and then closed weak. Small-caps led the way lower with the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) falling just over 1%. All sectors were down with the Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY), Finance SPDR (XLF), Basic Materials SPDR (XLB) and Healthcare SPDR (XLV) falling over 1%. Relative weakness in... READ MORE
AMT Consolidates after Gap-Breakout. ATML Fall on Expanding Volume. Plus COV, HD, HON and JBLU **This chart analysis is for educational purposes only, and should not be construed as a recommendation to buy, sell or sell-short said securities** This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is... READ MORE
The volatility premium rose sharply as the VIX surged 50% and hit a three month high. The chart below shows the VIX rising from the 13 area to 19.41 in less than three weeks. While the VIX exceeded its August high, the S&P 500 has yet to... READ MORE
METALS & MINING SPDR TESTS KEY SUPPORT ZONE... Link for today's video. The Metals & Mining SPDR (XME) fell back at the end of September, but managed to hold support in the 36 area and firm the last six days. Chart 1 shows XME hitting resistance from the... READ MORE
It remains a tale of two markets. The Dow Industrials SPDR and the S&P 500 ETF are weak and in short-term downtrends. The Russell 2000 ETF and Nasdaq 100 ETF are holding up and remain in consolidation patterns since September 18th. QQQ and IWM bounced off short-term support... READ MORE