The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is hitting resistance from last week's gap down, but may just find support from this week's gap up. The latest round of gaps started with a gap down from a new high on 22-February. The ETF rebounded later that... READ MORE
For the second time in two weeks, the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQQ) surged and met resistance from the 22-Feb gap. While failure at the gap is negative, the overall trend remains up as QQQQ battles the lower trendline of a rising price channel. Also note that Thursday's gap... READ MORE
S&P 500 ELLIOTT WAVE COUNTS - A BIG IMPULSE WAVE HIGHER ... Link for todays video. Even though there is no real change to the Elliott Wave counts put forth on January 21st, a few readers have been asking for an update so now is a good time for... READ MORE
Even though stocks may seem overbought and ripe for a correction, there are simply no signs of concerted selling pressure in the market right now. We saw a 3-4 day decline last week and a one day decline on Monday, but both were followed by sharp advances. As such, the... READ MORE
The bulls are simply not to be denied. Despite a gap down and sharp decline last week as well as a bearish engulfing on Monday, stocks firmed above last week's low and SPY surged above 133 on Thursday. This is why I look at an array of indicators... READ MORE
The S&P Sector Market Carpet provides an easy visual to identify the leaders and laggards over a given timeframe. Clicking on the sector name puts the focus on that sector. Hover over the squares to see the name, ticker and percent change. Robert Half (RHI), a new-school industrial... READ MORE
TRICHET SAYS ECB MAY RAISE RATES... The ECB Bank President announced today that a more vigilant stance against inflation is now warranted, and warned that the European central bank may raise rates as early as next month. That pushed the Euro sharply higher and the U.S. Dollar lower. Chart... READ MORE
With a little firmness on Wednesday, we can draw a tentative trendline extending up from last week's low to form a volatile triangle over the last 8 trading days. Technically, the short-term trend is still up. SPY had a huge run the first three weeks of February and... READ MORE
ACI Forms Triangle. AEO Firms at Key Retracement. LOGI Consolidates After Breakout. Plus GILD,HAS,IGT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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... READ MORE
IMPORTANT SUPPORT COMING INTO PLAY FOR QQQQ... Link for todays video. With a couple of sharp declines the last two weeks, the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQQ) established an important support zone to watch going forward. QQQQ represents the performance of large tech stocks. There are, or course, stocks other than... READ MORE
A bearish engulfing forms when a long black candlestick engulfs the body of the prior white candlestick. This means the open is above the prior close and the close is below the prior open. It is a reversal day that can foreshadow lower prices. Costco formed such a pattern on... READ MORE
The 7-month streak of first day-of-month gains was broken on March 1st as stocks declined rather sharply. SPY surged to resistance around 132.5-133 on Monday and opened above 133.5 on Tuesday. This early gap did not hold as the ETF quickly reversed and moved sharply lower. Last week&... READ MORE
All sectors were down in afternoon trading on Tuesday, but some were down less than others. In particular, the Utilities SPDR (XLU), Consumer Staples SPDR (XLP) and Healthcare SPDR (XLV) were holding up relatively well with modest losses. Money can be seen moving out materials, consumer discretionary, finance, industrials and... READ MORE
DON'T THE 1970'S QUALIFY AS RECENT HISTORY... After reading the comments by Mr. Bernanke before Congress today, I got to wondering about how much he actually knows about market and economic history. The head of the Fed is generally acknowledged to be an expert on the... READ MORE
The magical first day of the month is upon us. Among others, bespokeinvest.com notes that the S&P 500 has gained 14 of the last 16 times on the first day of the month. The last two down days were the first days of June and July 2010.... READ MORE
AA bounces on low volume. GOOG trades flat for 4 months. GS holds gap down. Plus AKS,F,ROL,RTN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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... READ MORE
The US Dollar Index ($USD) extended its losses on Monday with a decline below 77. After a two week fall, the index is near its early February low. This level may offer support, but the trend is clearly down after the failure at 79 and wedge break. The next real... READ MORE
HEALTHCARE AND UTILITIES LEAD LACKADAISICAL MARKET... Link for todays video. Sector movements on Monday showed relative strength in two defensive sectors: healthcare and utilities. The third defensive sector, consumer staples, did not lead on Monday, but hit a 52-week high just last week. These three sectors represent goods and services... READ MORE
On the 60-minute chart, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) firmed at support around 130 mid-week and bounced back above 132 on Friday. The 62% retracement and broken resistance marked this support zone. In addition, SPY was oversold and overbought $VIX suggested that stocks were ripe for a mean-reversion... READ MORE
The Coal Vectors ETF (KOL) has been stuck in a tightening trading range the last five weeks. After the sharp January decline, the ETF formed a triangle in February. As volatility decreased, the Bollinger Bands contracted to their narrowest range since early November, seen of a triangle breakout. Watch the... READ MORE
NEGATIVE CORRELATION HOLDS FOR DOLLAR/GOLD... Link for todays video. The long-term trend for the Gold SPDR (GLD) has been up since the breakout in early 2009. Chart 1 shows two modest corrections and one consolidation within this uptrend (pink lines). The uptrend continued when GLD broke falling wedge resistance... READ MORE
Despite a sharp decline in stocks this week, the indicator summary remains firmly positive. Don't forget that the major index ETFs, most sector SPDRs, the AD Lines and the AD Volume Lines all recorded new 52-week highs just last week. Such highs occur in big uptrends, not big... READ MORE
On the 60-minute chart, SPY continues to firm at support around 130. This support zone stems from broken resistance levels and a 62% retracement of the advance from the late January lows to the mid February highs. There have been a couple of bounce attempts in the last two days,... READ MORE
Delta Airlines (DAL) came across the bullish engulfing scan on the predefined scans page. The stock gapped lower and declined with heaving volume on Tuesday. This decline was countered with a bullish engulfing on Wednesday with even higher volume. The stock is stalling Thursday and needs to break the Wednesday&... READ MORE
On the 60-minute chart, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) hit the main support zone around 130 on Wednesday afternoon and bounced. This bounce does not look that strong though as stocks sold off in the final 30 minutes of trading. A strong bounce would have finished strong. With... READ MORE
BBY Hits Long-term Support Zone. CL Forms Triangle Consolidation. IMB Forms Bull Wedge. Plus MHS, RTH and T. 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
ESTIMATING SHORT-TERM SUPPORT LEVELS FOR SPY... Link for todays video. Stocks continued lower for the second day, but bounced off their afternoon lows as short-term support levels came into play for the major index ETFs. Not everyones definition of short-term is the same. I would consider a 6-week 60-minute chart... READ MORE
It may seem a rather strange relationship, but the Nikkei 225 ($NIKK) and the 10-year Treasury Yield ($TNX) have a positive relationship working. The chart below shows both rising and falling together since November 2009. Despite a setback over the last few days, both remain in uptrends overall. John Murphy... READ MORE
On the 60-minute chart, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) hit its first support zone in the 131.5 area. This zone stems from the consolidation the second week of February. It is important to note that the gap down held and the ETF continued lower after the first... READ MORE
EMERGING MARKET ISHARES LOSE 3% ... Today's spike in oil prices has put global stocks on the defensive. Among the weakest are emerging markets, especially in Asia. Asian losses of more than than 3% have been seen in China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. Chart 1 shows HongKong iShares... READ MORE
A 25-cent daily Point & Figure chart for HR Block ($HRB) captures price action all the way back to July 2009. These X's and O's show the stock moving lower throughout 2010 and firming towards yearend. 2011 has been better with a double top breakout last... READ MORE
GOLD AND OIL PRICES SPIKE HIGHER... As usually happens during a period of Mideast turmoil, gold and oil prices are spiking higher today. Chart 1 shows the Gold Trust Shares (GLD) trading at a two-month high. We've been reporting on the recent upturn in precious metal assets. Silver... READ MORE
Unrest in Libya is sparking the flight to safety trade in a big way. Libya produces around 1.8 million barrels of oil per day and accounts for a 2% of global output. Even though Saudia Arabia has around 3 million barrels of spare capacity, the market is concerned that... READ MORE
I'm not a believer in global decoupling. On the contrary, I believe that global stock markets are highly correlated and usually trend in the same direction. That's especially true of the relationship between emerging and developed markets. Chart 1 shows a strong correlation between emerging markets... READ MORE
Richard Rhodes is on hiatus this week. His article will return in the next issue of ChartWatchers.... READ MORE
One thing that's been quite apparent to me over the past several months is that money is not leaving the equity market. When one sector or industry group sells off, the money simply rotates elsewhere. Then rinse and repeat. This is truly a trader's dream because... READ MORE
The daily number of New Highs and New Lows (NHNL) refers to stocks reaching their highest or lowest price during the most recent 52-week period. Below is a NHNL chart for the stocks that compose the S&P 500 Index, and we can learn a few things from it.... READ MORE
Except for natural gas, most major commodities and commodity groups are up sharply over the last 6-8 months. Stockcharts.com provides a broad range of Dow Jones-UBS commodity related indices. The PerfChart below shows seven commodity related indices and the 20+ year Bond ETF (TLT). Five represent major commodity groups.... READ MORE
The NYSE and Nasdaq most active lists are displayed on the Free Charts page and updated throughout the day. Seven of the ten most active on the NYSE were down in early trading on Friday. Seven of ten were up on the Nasdaq. Chartists can see charts for all ten... READ MORE
DEFENSIVE SECTORS REMAIN THE LAGGARDS... The Healthcare SPDR (XLV) has been lagging the broader market for some time now. While the S&P 500 is up some 30% since early July, XLV is up around 18%. Chartist can compare performance by using the S&P Sector PerfChart. Chart... READ MORE