Apple whiffed and the stock is trading sharply lower after hours. This means the Nasdaq, QQQ and the Technology SPDR (XLK) will also be down in early trading on Thursday. It seems to be an Apple and big tech specific issue because the Dow futures are up slightly and the... READ MORE
ESRX Underperforms and Tests Wedge Support. ORLY Firms at Support with Good Volume. Plus AMKR, JBL, PNRA, YUM This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all need to... READ MORE
The Silver Miners ETF (SIL) is having a tough time this year with a failed gap and now a move below the early January low. After breaking down in November, the ETF formed a rising channel the last two months. SIL broke channel support today and continues to show relative... READ MORE
TECHNOLOGY SPDR BREAKS WEDGE RESISTANCE... Link for todays video. The technology sector is getting a big boost from Google and IBM on Wednesday. Both stocks reported earnings on Tuesday and both reacted positively to these reports. IBM is the second largest component in the Technology SPDR (XLK) and Google is... READ MORE
Stocks extended their gains on Tuesday with the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) and S&P MidCap 400 SPDR (MDY) leading the way higher. Small-caps and mid-caps have been leading this market since mid November and show no signs of slowing down. Finance, materials, energy and utilities led the sectors... READ MORE
The Utilities SPDR (XLU) is showing some upside leadership on Tuesday with a .95% gain. This makes XLU the top performing sector so far. Energy (XLE), Financials (XLF) and Materials (XLB) are also performing well. You can find more leaders and laggards on the market summary page. Click this image... READ MORE
Stocks surged out of the gates to start 2013 and the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) closed at its highest level of the year (13 days). Buying pressure continues has we head into a big week for earnings. Some 100 reports are scheduled today, around 120 on Wednesday and... READ MORE
Care out there. It is earnings season. AA Falls back to Firs Support Zone. PCG Surges and Forms Pennant. Plus RDC and SO. This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or... READ MORE
Hello Fellow ChartWatchers! So far, 2013 is proving to be very interesting with bullishness dominating the stock market so far. Since the start of the year, most of the major US market averages are up over 4% with the Russell 2000 (+5.12%) leading the way. Looking at the market... READ MORE
Whenever we look at gold, it's a good idea to check on the trend of gold miners. The orange bars in Chart 1 show the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) still in a downtrend, but trying to stabilize. The first thing the GDX needs to do to... READ MORE
Technicals do change and I reserve the right to change my opinion as price action evolves, but the energy sector looks like THE ONE for 2013. I remain bullish the stock market overall so I expect most sectors will perform well in 2013. Keep in mind that money rotates from... READ MORE
Next week, the markets will be focused upon the incoming earnings reports; and in particular - Apple's (APPL) earnings after Wednesday's close. Over the past several months, AAPL has declined rather sharply off its highs around $700 down to its current trade at $500; which is... READ MORE
I have long been a cheerleader for equal-weighted indexes versus cap-weighted ones, and now seems like a good time to demonstrate why. In a cap-weighted index stocks influence the price of the index based upon their market capitalization (price time number of shares). For example the top 50 stocks in... READ MORE
The Technology SPDR (XLK) has been lagging the broader market for some time now, but the trend since mid November remains up and a bullish continuation pattern is taking shape this month. Weighed down by its top components, XLK has been lagging the S&P 500 ETF since September.... READ MORE
Stocks moved higher this week, but Google (GOOG) did not partake and fell rather sharply. Notice that the stock broke the November trend line and filled the 2-Jan gap. Yes, GOOG is below its 2-Jan open . The price relative (GOOG:SPY ratio) turned down and broke support this week. GOOG... READ MORE
RISING PEAKS AFFIRM LONG-TERM UPTREND IN SPY... Link for todays video. The long-term trends are clearly up as several major index and sector ETFs recorded 52-week highs this week. Despite these long-term uptrends, short-term conditions are getting quite overbought. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is up around 10%... READ MORE
No, the pyramids are not a range of mountains between France and Spain. Yes, there are over 80 pyramids in Egypt. There are also triangular, pentagonal and oblique pyramids in math. No doubt you’ve also come across ecological, nutritional and even income pyramids. This blog is about my pyramid.... READ MORE
The only thing the bulls have to fear is bullishness itself. In other words, the bulk of the evidence is bullish, but stocks are getting overbought because the S&P 500 is up 10% since mid November (two months). The Russell 2000 ($RUT) is up over 15%. Except for... READ MORE
Stocks surged on Thursday with the S&P 500 hitting multi year highs. The Nasdaq and the Dow also surged and are poised to challenge their September highs. Stocks were buoyed by a surprisingly large jump in housing starts and a large decline in initial jobless claims. Even though... READ MORE
The Dow is up triple digits and close to its Sep-Oct highs, but the NYSE most active list shows more decliners than gainers (7 to 3). Big banks (BAC,C,JPM) are leading the way lower on profit taking. The Nasdaq most active list, in contrast, shows nine up and... READ MORE
Trading remains mixed overall, but the bias is still bullish as the major index ETFs hold their New Year's gains. SPY, MDY, QQEW and IWM have edged higher since gapping up on 2-Jan. QQQ, which has been weighed down by Apple, has traded flat. The bulls have the... READ MORE
BRCM Holds Gap with Flat Flag. GRMN Breaks Support and Forms Bear Flag. Plus BHI, LH, ORLY, SCHL This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all need to... READ MORE
SPY AND MDY STALL WITHIN UPTRENDS... Link for todays video. Stocks are in an uptrend and upside momentum is slowing, but we have yet to see any signs of significant selling pressure and the uptrends are firmly in place. It is not uncommon for an advance to slow after a... READ MORE
The markets have been in risk-on mode since mid November and continue to embrace risk. The chart below shows the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and US Oil Fund (USO) performing the best. The 20+ Year T-Bond ETF (TLT) is performing the worst. Also note that the Euro Currency... READ MORE
It is getting to be a familiar story. Stocks in general edged higher, but the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) edged lower because of weakness in Apple. AAPL broke support at 500 with a sharp decline on Tuesday. The company reports next Wednesday after the close. This is definitely one of... READ MORE
Activision (ATVI) came to life with a gap and high-volume surge off support in 2013. The stock remains in a long-term downtrend, but could be forming a double bottom over the last three months. A break above the December high would confirm the pattern and reverse the downtrend. Click this... READ MORE
TRANSPORTATION ISHARES REACHES NEW HIGH ... Since December, we've been writing about the strong upturn in transportation shares. A December 20 message showed the Dow Transports breaking out of a triangular formation which put them on track to challenge their all-time high. It also showed the DJ Transportation iShares... READ MORE
Stocks were mixed on Monday with the Dow Industrials SPDR (DIA) and Nasdaq 100 Equal-Weight ETF (QQEW) edging higher, while the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) and S&P 500 ETF (SPY) edged lower. QQQ was weighed down by weakness in QCOM, AAPL and GOOG. The Dow was helped by... READ MORE
AMKR Forms High-Tight Pennant. AVP Firms at Key Retracement. Plus CSX, EA, IBM, KGC, RSD/A This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all need to think for... READ MORE
American Science and Engineering (ASEI) surged in November and then moved into a trading range the last six week. Notice that volatility is contracting as the Bollinger Bands narrow. In particular, ASEI traded between 64.5 and 66.2 during January, which is a very tight range indeed. Watch these... READ MORE
QQQ STALLS AT KEY RETRACEMENT... Link for todays video. The Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) and the technology sector came under selling pressure early Monday. Chart 1 shows QQQ surging above 67 with a sharp two day advance on 31-December and 2-January. We have yet to see follow through on this... READ MORE
After big moves on 31-Dec and 2-Jan, stocks edged higher the last seven trading days. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) closed at 146.06 on Wednesday (2-Jan) and at 147.07 on Friday (11-Jan). Even though the ability to hold the initial gains and edge higher is positive,... READ MORE
BREAKOUTS ABOUND, BUT STOCKS ARE GETTING OVERBOUGHT ... Link for todays video. There is not a lot to be bearish about right now. Small-caps and mid-caps are leading the market higher. The S&P MidCap 400 ($MID) and Russell 2000 ($RUT) both broke resistance and recorded 52-week highs this year.... READ MORE
Mark Twain once commented on the celebration of New Year’s and said something to this effect: Last week everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. This week we are a pious and exemplary community of investors. Cheers to another new year as... READ MORE
The Australian Dollar Index ($XAD) broke above trend line resistance from a large triangle this week. Medium-term, the index is still trading in a range extending back to July 2012. A break above the July-September highs would argue for a challenge to the 2011 highs. Click this image for a... READ MORE
The vast majority of market indicators remain in bull mode. The Nasdaq AD Line broke above its December high this week and the Nasdaq AD Volume Line broke above its September high. The Nasdaq continues to lag the NY Composite, but tech stocks are starting to show a little life.... READ MORE
Stocks moved higher on Thursday with the major index ETFs scoring modest gains, very modest gains. The S&P 100 ETF (OEF) led the way with a whopping .80% advance. The Finance SPDR (XLF) led the sectors with a 1.27% gain on renewed confidence in US banks. Semiconductors... READ MORE
IBM has been underperforming the broader market for several months and continued this trend with a break below support. On the P&F chart, notice how the stock formed three O-Columns with equal lows in January. The current O-Columnm which is red, broke below these lows to forge the... READ MORE
MEDICAL EQUIPMENT STOCKS SHOW NEW MARKET LEADERSHIP... The market's strongest sector over the past week has been healthcare. By looking at the Sector Summary list for the past week, however, it's possible to see which medical groups have led it higher. Biotechs and pharmaceutical stocks have... READ MORE
AAN Consolidates after Channel Break. BMC Breaks Resistance and Shows Relative Strength in 2013. Plus CVX, LH, VFC, VMW, XOM This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise). We all... READ MORE