Fades Confirmed Bear Market Resistance and Gravity’s Call – The Market Breadth

bear market resistance (credit: ellyn on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: The recession that Wall Street wants remains elusive according to the August jobs report. The data show the labor participation rate increased with job growth and a minimal increase in the unemployment rate: a recipe for the (mythical?) economic soft landing. The reaction in the stock market reflected the duality in interpreting … Read more

It Took 519 Trading Days to Close Oversold – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary: The last “official” oversold period was 519 trading days ago. After 8 different intraday dips into and out of oversold territory, the stock market finally closed in oversold conditions. The signs of a bear market include the inability to stay out of oversold conditions. Today’s series of breakdowns combined with further deterioration … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews – Snapshots of Bullish Belief…and Some Holdouts

Stock Market Commentary: Last week delivered a series of confirmed breakouts that served to uphold bullish belief in the stock market. Even as the overall rally looks to continue, the market’s most troubled corners showed weakness at the end of the week. These holdouts failed to break through important resistance levels. Some of these growth … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews – Apple Wary As Big Cap Tech Fails Important Tests

Stock Market Commentary A promising week of post-oversold trading ended in tensions over inflation, interest rates, and Ukraine. Overall, the stock market remains locked in churn. Yet, the view from individual stocks can provide cause for greater alarm. End of the week selling in big cap tech raised a red flag against my overall bullishness … 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 – A Telling Mosaic from All-Time Lows to Breakouts

Stock Market Commentary The stock market is scraping by just above oversold territory. The churn of last week has created a mosaic different trading conditions. The bears are salivating at the all-time lows. The hopefuls like me are finding slivers of opportunity in the breakouts. The stock charts in this review cover some of everything. … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews – Snapshots of Forlorn Stocks

Stock Market Commentary I earlier wrote about a forlorn stock market writing a love note to the Federal Reserve. This love note comes in the form of a basket of sell-offs. The selling is so broad and so deep that traders could throw a dart and find descriptive stock charts. The examples below are some … Read more

Strong Start, Bearish End for September – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary The strong start to September which characterized the persistent complacency in the stock market soon gave way to the kind of selling that characterizes one of the most dangerous months of the year. September came to a bearish end with a 4.8% loss on the month for the S&P 500. The index … Read more

New Stock Rotations Pressured Market Breadth – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary August was a breeze, and the stock market strolled in September. A few pebbles rolled into the path this week. The indices delivered divergent behavior which brings up familiar themes of rotation. Most notably, the rotations pressured market breadth as small caps in particular displayed fresh signs of weakness. The Stock Market … Read more

Pattern Trading Wins Another Week – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary Pattern trading uses consistent bets on repeated behaviors in financial markets. Over the course of time, pattern trading delivers profits from the diligent application of rules based on standard, technical setups in stock charts. The persistent uptrends and trading ranges in this pandemic stock market have delivered a surprisingly long stretch of … Read more