The positive correlation between stocks and the Euro remains in place. The Euro got an oversold bounce last week and this helped propel stocks higher. Strong economic numbers on Wednesday also helped the bullish cause. Even though the Euro is getting a bounce, rising interest rates in the US and... READ MORE
Complacency was the big issue for stock market bulls as we entered the second week of November. The market simply ran too far too fast and everyone began piling in on the equity calls as if the buying would never end. Well, guess what? The buying ended! The market topped... READ MORE
A way to determine whether or not investors are turning more optimistic on the economy (and stock market) is to study the trend of recent sector rotations. In an improving economy, investors tend to favor economically-sensitive stock groups. In a weakening economy, they favor defensive stock groups. The charts below... READ MORE
The past several day market rally has caught many "flat-footed" to be sure as traders head into year-end. Moreover, the prospects for further gains are rather high; hence we're likely to see many traders attempt to play "catch-up". This begs the question as to... READ MORE
Last week some subscribers asked me what was going on with the OEX Put/Call Ratio. You can see on the 10-Day Moving Average chart that it took a sharp dive off the November price top. (Actually the ratio reading went higher, but we reverse the scale to make oversold... READ MORE
Point & Figure produce straight-forward charts that focus exclusively on price action. Columns of X's appear during an advance. Columns of O's appear during a decline. Nothing appears when prices are flat or move less than the box size or reversal amount. Point & Figure charts... READ MORE
The Nasdaq Point & Figure Triple Top Breakout scan featured over 200 stocks on Friday morning. The chart below shows Echostar (SATS) breaking resistance marked by five columns of X's, which previous reversed at 22. This breakout is P&F bullish with a price objective (PO) of... READ MORE
BROKEN RESISTANCE MARKS FIRST SUPPORT FOR SPY... Link for todays video. Point & Figure charts are straight-forward charts that focus exclusively on price action. Columns of Xs appear during an advance. Columns of Os appear during a decline. Nothing appears when prices are flat or move less than the box... READ MORE
Today marks three full months that the indicator summary has been positive. After some whipsaws in the summer, this table turned positive on September 3rd and remains positive. Some signs of weakness appeared in November, but these were erased with this week's surge and breakout. Small-caps and mid-caps... READ MORE
There is no change on the daily or 60-minute charts. SPY built on its breakout with a 1.28% gains. Perhaps more importantly, the finance sector led the way with a huge move. Megabanks, regional banks and brokers led the way. On the daily chart, SPY held support around 118... READ MORE
The finance sector sprang to life on Thursday with a sea of green squares filling its portion of the Sector Carpet. M&I Corp (MI) is the top performer with an 11+ percent gain. Click a square to see the corresponding chart in the upper right. Click this image... READ MORE
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH BREAKS OUT ... My Tuesday message wrote about the fact that retail stocks have been showing market leadership since midyear, and that several individual retailers were achieving bullish breakouts or were close to doing so. One that I highlighted was Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) which was challenging its... READ MORE
A little bounce in the Euro, some positive economic news and bullish seasonal patterns pushed stocks sharply higher on Wednesday. Historically, December is the second strongest month of the year for stocks. This historic tendency got off to a good start with yesterday's big surge. This is interesting... READ MORE
$EFTC forms cup-with-handle. $GE bounces of key retracement zone. $PMCS surges off support with good volume. Plus $MCK, $PEP, $SYK, $V, $WY. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or... READ MORE
DIA AND SPY BREAK CONSOLIDATION RESISTANCE WITH GAPS... Link for todays video. Stocks surged with a broad rally that lifted all sectors. All major indices gained over 2% and the Russell 2000 showed leadership as it broke above its November high. Historically, December is the second strongest month for the... READ MORE
The Russell 2000 ($RUT) and small-caps are leading the market higher. The index is the first of the major indices to break above its November high. With today's move above 740, the index is also challenging its April high. Notice that CCI turned positive with the 18-Nov gap... READ MORE
It is as if the under-invested fund managers can smell the yearend. SPY gapped down and moved below 118 yet again on Tuesday, but the bulls pushed the ETF back above 119 in the afternoon. Even though SPY managed to fill the gap, it did not break above yesterday'... READ MORE
After a breakout in early November, Activision (ATVI) consolidated with a triangle over the last few weeks. The consolidation slowly narrowed with the stocks trading between 11.45 and 11.86 the last nine days. A break from this range will trigger the next signal. Click this image for a... READ MORE
RETAILERS LEAD DISCRETIONARY SECTOR HIGHER... It looks like a tug of war is going on in the U.S. stock market between worries over European debt problems and signs of improvement in the U.S. economy. I normally take my cues on the economy from stock action. And one sign... READ MORE
On the daily chart, SPY broke channel support with a gap down in mid November and this break is holding. This short-term support break started a short-term downtrend that is considered a correction within the bigger uptrend. As far as downside targets, we can draw a falling price channel and... READ MORE
AVP consolidates after sharp decline. BBY gaps down. FAST breaks triangle resistance. Plus BXP, ITW, SPG, WM, X ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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... READ MORE
The Industrials SPDR (XLI) bounced over the last two weeks, but the rise looks like a bearish flag. Also notice that the ETF formed a harami on Wednesday-Friday last week and the Aroon Oscillator turned negative for the first time since mid September. A break below 21 would signal a... READ MORE
FINANCE SECTOR LEADS AFTERNOON REBOUND... Link for todays video. Stocks were down sharply in early trading on Monday, but the finance sector showed relative strength early on and led the market during the afternoon rebound. In contrast to European equities, US banks seem to like the Irish bailout. Chart 1... READ MORE
The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) remains in a short-term downtrend that is viewed as a correction within a bigger uptrend. Defining the length and the duration of this correction is an imprecise science. We can, however, set precise resistance levels to define the downtrend. This means the downtrend... READ MORE
The Canadian Dollar Index ($CDW) is showing strength with a higher low in November and big surge this week. Also called the "Loonie", the Canadian Dollar exceeded its summer highs in October and then consolidated several weeks. The overall trend here is up with the next resistance just... READ MORE
It is a strange situation. The anecdotal evidence favors the bears, but the stock market price action remains strong. The 10-year Treasury Yield ($TNX) surged back above 2.9% on Friday and the Euro/Dollar fell below 1.33. Rising yields and a weak Euro would normally be bearish for... READ MORE
SMALL-CAPS MID-CAPS AND TECHS LEAD STOCKS HIGHER... Link for todays video. Stocks surged on Wednesday with the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), the S&P MidCap 400 SPDR (MDY) and Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQQ) taking the lead. Just looking at the gaps over the last five trading days reveals a... READ MORE
The market carpet shows a sea of red over the last two days, but there are a few green squares to be found. There are six in the consumer discretionary sector and five in the technology sector. Big Lots (BIG) is up over 5% and New York Times (NTY) is... READ MORE
The bulk of the short-term evidence is bearish, but the medium-term evidence remains bullish. This means short-term weakness is viewed as a correction within a bigger uptrend. Keep in mind that this bigger uptrend holds the trump cards and these can be played at any time. There will most likely... READ MORE
Stocks moved sharply lower on Tuesday, but the Retail SPDR (XRT) bucked the trend and closed with small gain. The chart below shows XRT breaking flag resistance with a gap up four day ago and closing higher the last five days. ALso notice that the price relative recorded a 52-week... READ MORE
Despite the Irish bank bailout, the Euro declined on Monday and was down in overnight trading on Tuesday. Stocks and the Euro have been positively correlated since April as the Euro pretty much defines the risk on-off trade. Strength in the Euro favors the risk-on trade and stocks. Weakness in... READ MORE
AMAT forms falling flag. MDT firms at key retracement. MSFT finds support near broken resistance. Plus AFFX, CL, MMM, PPDI. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
QQQQ AND IWM SHOW RELATIVE STRENGTH AS GAPS HOLD ... Link for todays video. The finance sector weighed on the S&P 500 ETF (SPY), but the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) and the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQQ) showed strength throughout the day and close with modest gains. Short-term, all three... READ MORE
Irish stocks surged to resistance last week, but got cold feet on Monday and reversed course after today's bailout news. The chart below shows the Dow Jones Ireland Index ($IEDOW), which is updated throughout the day. The index broke above its Sep-Oct highs on Friday, but reneged on... READ MORE
The Finance SPDR (XLF) is leading the market lower on Monday as European debt concerns weigh. XLF broke resistance at 15 in early November, but failed to hold this breakout with a move back below 15. After a feeble bounce last week, 15 has become resistance once gain. The indicator... READ MORE
Ireland accepted an aid package and the Euro is getting a bounce this morning. It is not a huge bounce though. Euro strength could give US equities a lift as we head into Thanksgiving. It is a shortened week with three full trading days (Mon-Tue-Wed) and a short day on... READ MORE
We've been showing the upward trend in bond yields since the Fed's latest QE2 package was announced last week. We've also shown the drop in bond prices, especially Treasury bonds and notes. The bond category that's been hit the hardest has been... READ MORE
Happy Thanksgiving! We view the ratio between stocks and bonds as a barometer for the "risk-on" or "risk-off" trade. Therefore, the recent upward movement in the ratio has our attention, and so too should it have our readers as it on the precipice of breaking out... READ MORE
The top in April was laced with warning signs, from record complacency to negative divergences on daily and weekly MACDs to underperforming financials to overbought oscillators to oversold bonds. In particular, the negative divergence on the MACD on the weekly charts suggested the weakness was likely to last. Recently, complacency... READ MORE
Hello Fellow ChartWatchers! We are now halfway through our current plan for adding more value to every StockCharts.com subscriber's membership. Two weeks ago, we doubled the amount of chart storage that Extra members get and we drastically increased the "freshness" of our Scan Engine results.... READ MORE