Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) is part of the retail apparel industry group and the consumer discretionary sector. ANF surged with a gap up in early April, but failed to hold this surge and filled the gap in mid April. The inability tohold the gap-surge shows weakness. There was another,... READ MORE
Agilent Technology (A) surged in March and then formed an ascending triangle over the last 4-5 weeks. These classic patterns are bullish continuation patterns that require confirmation with a breakout. The equal highs around 17.2 mark overhead supply (resistance). The higher lows in April show buying pressure (demand)... READ MORE
Centerpoint Energy (CNP) is part of the electric utilities group. The defensive utilities sector has been struggling lately, but managed a gain in the face of Monday's market weakness. Investors may turn to defense if the market weakens further. CNP surged with good volume in mid March and... READ MORE
The NYSE AD Line moved above its January high to record a new high for 2009. In contrast, the NY Composite Index remains below its January high. This show of relative strength in the AD Line reflects broad participation in the current advance and bodes well for the current uptrend.... READ MORE
NASDAQ NEARS 200-DAY LINE ... The market bounce that started on March 9 remains intact. As has been the case all year, the technology-dominated Nasdaq market is leading the market higher. Chart 1 shows the Nasdaq Composite Index having cleared its January high and nearing a test of its... READ MORE
Super Value (SVU) surged above its 50-day moving average and wedge resistance with a big move on big volume. The 200-day moving average is just ahead for the next challenge.... READ MORE
A TALE OF TWO MARKETS... Life revolves around the January highs for many stocks, indices and ETFs. Those trading above their January highs are leaders showing relative strength. Those trading below their January highs are the laggards showing less strength. Chart 2 shows the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQQ) trading above... READ MORE
Air Products (APD) is part of the chemicals group and the basic materials sectors. After surging to resistance in March, the stock consolidated around the 60 the last few weeks. The bulls came out in force as the stock surged to its highest level of the year with big volume... READ MORE
DOW FALLS SHARPLY IN FINAL HOUR... Led by weakness in financials, the Dow Industrials gave up its afternoon gains to close with a modest loss on the Wednesday. Chart 1 shows the Average trading at around 8040 in the late afternoon before plunging below 7900 in the final hour of... READ MORE
SELLING PRESSURE INTENSIFIES... Even though the major-index ETFs (QQQQ,SPY,IWM, DIA) are in clear uptrends, they are also overbought and ripe for a correction or a consolidation. As noted on Monday, prior pullbacks were limited to two days as stocks recovered quite quickly. Monday's decline was... READ MORE
Aetna (AET) retraced 62% of the Feb-Mar decline with a rising wedge that peaked in mid April. Both the wedge and the retracement are typical for corrective rallies within bigger downtrends. Also notice that the 200-day moving average is falling and the 50-day moving average is below... READ MORE
USING BOLLINGER BANDS ON DAILY CHARTS... Stocks bounced back from Monday's selloff. As a result, it's difficult to decide if the rally off the March 9 bottom is over or just pulling back a bit. If it does pullback, how far? One valuable tool to help... READ MORE
The Retail HOLDRs (RTH) hit massive resistance around 78-80 for the third time since October. Resistance in this area stems from the October, January and April highs. In addition, the falling 200-day moving average is coming into play. After a run from 60 to 80, RTH is ripe... READ MORE
Wal-Mart (WMT), which is the biggest component in RTH, is leading the way lower with a break below its 50-day moving average on Monday. Notice that WMT peaked at the 200-day moving average on 2-April and did not follow the broader market higher over the last... READ MORE
SPY EXTENDS HIGHER ON LOWER VOLUME... Despite a clear uptrend since early March, the current rally in SPY is getting stretched as volume declines and overbought conditions extend. Chart 1 shows the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) with a 28-day rally since early March. All told, SPY is... READ MORE
Wow. This past week has been a very hectic one here at StockCharts.com. Four - count 'em - four H-U-G-E changes have happened in addition to our 10-year Anniversary Sale is drawing to a close. I posted about most of this stuff in my blog, but... READ MORE
In my last article, I noted that I was "undeniably bullish". I can tell you that nothing occurred these last two weeks to change my mind. More and more corroborating technicals have lined up to suggest this current rally has legs. Perhaps the most important of them all... READ MORE
The various US market averages have seen six straight weeks of rally, and one must wonder is "lucky #7" is in the offing. We don't know honestly; however, there are signs the rally off the March 9th low is becoming "long in the tooth"... READ MORE
The bear market rally has continued to move prices higher, and the strength is greatest in the smaller-cap stocks. For example, the S&P 500 has rallied 30% from the March lows, but the Rydex S&P Equal Weight ETF (RSP) has advanced 45%. Looking through the... READ MORE
The McClellan Oscillator is a short- to intermediate-term momentum breadth indicator. It's calculated each day by taking the difference between the 39-day and 19-day exponential moving averages of the number of net advances on the NYSE (see Chart School for a more in-depth explanation)... READ MORE
The Dow Industrials ETF (DIA) shows a classic case of becoming overbought and remaining overbought. I featured DIA in ChartWatchers two weeks ago as it hit potential resistance around 80. The song remains the same as DIA finished at 81.31 on Friday. Let's review resistance. First, the... READ MORE
MCCLELLAN OSCILLATOR IS STILL POSITIVE ... The McClellan Oscillator is a short- to intermediate-term momentum breadth indicator. It's calculated each day by taking the difference between the 39-day and 19-day exponential moving averages of the number of net advances on the NYSE (see Chart School for... READ MORE
Click here for a live version of this chart. We discussed PPD and its long struggle with the 50-day MA in a previous post. Looks like things have finally changed! Should be fun to watch during the next couple of days.... READ MORE
Click here for a live version of this chart CPSI has had a pretty impressive P&F chart for a while now. On March 16th, it completed a Quadrupal Top Breakout pattern that is, technically, still in place today. The problem is that CPSI is dangerously close to reversing... READ MORE
A MARKET BOTTOM IS A PROCESS, NOT AN EVENT... Global stock markets have enjoyed a nice rally since mid-March. Most U.S. stock indexes have rallied more than 20%. Some foreign stock indexes (like China) have done even better. Certain commodities (like copper) have also enjoyed a strong runup... READ MORE
NASDAQ AND CHIPS UP AGAINST RESISTANCE ... The rally from March 9 has reached a phase where further advances are going to be more difficult. That's because a number of groups that have led the spring rally have reached overhead resistance barriers. Technology is a good example. I'... READ MORE
CHINA ISHARES AND AUSSIE DOLLAR TEST 200-DAY AVERAGES... A week ago Friday I showed China iShares testing important resistance barriers. That's still the case. Chart 1 shows China iShares (FXI) testing not only its 200-day average, but its January high around 32. That's an... READ MORE
Click here for a live version of this chart SDS is the ProShares Ultra Short S&P 500 ETF. It's a way to invest (gamble really) that the market is going to fall. It showed up today on our Ticker Cloud page as one of today'... READ MORE
FINANCIALS LEAD THE CHARGE... Stocks opened strong this morning with financials leading the way higher. Chart 1 shows 60-minute bars for the Financials SPDR (XLF) over the last 6-7 weeks. Notice that XLF surged above 9.5 in mid March and then consolidated for around three weeks. As... READ MORE
RESISTANCE COMING INTO PLAY... While this rally may have further room to run, a breather may be in order as resistance levels come into play on a number of charts. As noted last week, stocks became overbought after big advances in March. There are two ways to alleviate overbought conditions:... READ MORE
CCI IN OVERBOUGHT TERRITORY ... The stock market is undergoing its second straight day of selling. One of the reasons for the pullback is short-term overbought readings in some of our more sensitive momentum indicators. Chart 1, for example, shows the Commodity Channel Index (CCI) reaching overbought territory above 100... READ MORE
Click here for a live version of this chart Help! Police! Pre-Paid Legal Services (PPD) is getting beat down by its 50-day Moving Average! Again! This is the third time this year that PPD has failed to penetrate the 50-day MA (blue line). Things were looking promising... READ MORE
I've received a number of requests to review the current position of the 13-34 exponential moving averages (EMAs). As you probably know, I place a lot of importance on that combination because of its strong track record over the years. I apply the 13-34 EMA combination... READ MORE
As the market continues it counter-trend bullish rally, we find is more than interesting that the Homebuilders haven't yet taken a leadership role. We would posit that given it was the Homebuilders that was the "canary in the coal mine" for the sharp broader market... READ MORE
I am undeniably bullish right now. My only question at this point is whether this is a very significant bear market rally or the early legs of a new bull market. Believe it or not, I think it's the latter. As pointed out in my last article, this... READ MORE
OUR TEN-YEAR CELEBRATION IS NOW ON! Chip started StockCharts.com ten years ago this month and to celebrate we are running our best special ever! * Subscribe to (or renew) any of our online services for a year and get two additional months of service free! Normally, you'd... READ MORE
The Dow Industrials ETF (DIA) surged off its 50-day moving average with a big advance on Wednesday and a gap on Thursday. While the four-week surge is most impressive, the ETF is running into a resistance zone and becoming overbought. First, broken supports around 80 turn into resistance.... READ MORE
This is the fifth part of a series of articles about Technical Analysis from a new course we're developing. If you are new to charting, these articles will give you the "big picture" behind the charts on our site. if you are an "old hand&... READ MORE
Last Friday I said we should be looking for a short-correction because the CVI (Climactic Volume Oscillator) was very overbought, and prices were approaching overhead resistance. There was a very small correction, but prices kept moving higher, while the CVI zigzagged at overbought levels. We also observed the STVO... READ MORE
Click here for a live version of this chart. "Wow. That doesn't look like any financial chart I've ever seen before." I agree, that is one strange looking chart. What the green area shows is the total amount of "Up" volume - i.... READ MORE