Overbought’s End Brings Trouble Ahead of CPI – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary: Last week ended the overbought period with a relatively strong report on initial claims for unemployment. The stock market – still freshly stung with the memory of the previous week‘s exceptionally strong jobs report – sold off sharply in response to the good economic news. A stubbornly resilient labor market continues to … Read more

From Distraught to Overbought In A Flash – The Market Breadth

distraught to overbought (Credit: Shopping cart at Weis by SchuminWeb from Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: The latest cryptocurrency scandal and implosion distracted the market (and me) from the upside potential of the October CPI (Consumer Price Index) report. Likely contagion, real and psychological, from crashing crypto prices helped drive distraught trading that created technical breakdowns across the major indices. U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday also apparently failed … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews – Snapshots of the Fresh Bearishness

Stock Market Commentary: After much resistance to Fed hawkishness, the U.S. stock market gave way to fresh bearishness. The major indices dropped into new depths of the bear den. The stocks below are snapshots of the latest deterioration in the price action and decline in the technical health underlying the stock market. The ARK funds … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews – A Dramatic Week of Historic Price Swings

Stock Market Commentary Last week was full of dramatic price swings. Traders reacted in extreme ways to key earnings results. The wild behavior cascaded out to related stocks. Some of the collateral damage in the blast radius likely came from portfolio managers scrambling to rebalance holdings. I expect this kind of action to continue through … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews: Snapshots from the New Normal

Stock Market Commentary A new COVID-19 variant created a new normal for financial markets. The following stock charts provide snapshots of how the market reacted to this new reality. Pandemic-sensitive stocks reacted sharply with a holiday-shortened trading session creating extra urgency for traders. Some of these quick trigger moves should reverse at least a bit … Read more

The Breakdown Expanding Underneath the Stock Market – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary The S&P 500 (SPY) lost 0.7% for just its 4th down day of the 12 trading days of August. The index closed at an all-time high the previous day. The pullback looks like just one more tiny pinprick in the middle of a monster run-up during this pandemic. Yet the ongoing deterioration … Read more

Warnings from Early Divergences in the Oversold Bounce – Above the 40 (July 23, 2021)

Stock Market Commentary The oversold bounce last week exceeded my expectations. I did not expect the week to end with the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ hitting fresh all-time highs. Both indices seemed to offer limited upside for trading oversold conditions.The oversold bounce also disappointed me. I looked to beaten up stocks as the source … Read more

A Refresher for Extended Overbought Conditions in the Stock Market – Above the 40 (December 28, 2020)

Stock Market Commentary The stock market quickly moved away from its close call with overbought conditions to pulling off a refresher for extended overbought conditions. The acquiescence of President Trump in signing a heavily negotiated, highly contentious pandemic relief bill seemed to provide the spark for the buying in the major indices. The Stock Market … Read more

Bearish Indices and Bullish Reopen Stocks Create Abrupt Rotation – Above the 40 (November 9, 2020)

AT200 (T2107) surged 10 percentage points to close near a 3-year high and a breakout above the post financial crisis downtrend.

Stock Market Statistics AT40 = 67.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (high of 75.1%) AT200 = 63.6% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (near 3-year high and breakout above post financial crisis downtrend) VIX = 25.8 (as low as 22.4) Short-term Trading Call: neutral Stock Market Commentary … Read more

Oversold Stock Market Conditions End With An Immediate Challenge – Above the 40 (September 25, 2020)

Stock Market Statistics AT40 = 23.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (ended 2-day oversold period)AT200 = 38.6% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 26.4Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Stock Market Commentary The oversold period lasted just two days, a typical length of time for oversold periods. … Read more