A Breadth Divergence Mutes the Mood – The Market Breadth (August 6, 2021)

Stock Market Commentary Whether market breadth wanes or rallies, the stock market just maintains an upward drift through the path of least resistance. Last week, short-term market breadth partially improved thanks to a strong July jobs report. The lingering weakness from the previous week receded just enough to given the stock market a more bullish … Read more

How Declining Market Breadth Delivered A Beating On Stocks – Above the 40 (July 16, 2021)

Stock Market Commentary The stock chickens have come to roost on declining market breadth. The stock market indices still generally appear fine, but an ever growing swath of individual stocks have fallen further and further behind. Last week in particular, sellers delivered an extended beating on individual stocks. The signs of waning confidence in the … Read more

Back to the Regularly Scheduled Stock Market Melt-Up – Above the 40 (July 10, 2021)

Stock Market Commentary The stock market melt-up took a one day break. The signs of trouble were ever more clear ahead of the break. Something was wrong with the picture in the stock market. Yet, sellers could barely follow through. The S&P 500 stumbled with a gap down, but buyers stepped right back in at … Read more

Stock Buyers Snapped Back But Failed to Crack An Important Downtrend – Above the 40 (April 23, 2021)

Stock Market Commentary The week began with two straight days of selling for the stock market. Almost everything was in place for a real pullback. Although the S&P 500 (SPY) was less than 2% off its all-time high, my favorite measure of breadth in the stock market, AT40 (T2108), the percentage of stocks trading above … Read more

Another Swift Drop In Stocks Paved the Way for Fresh Buying Power – Above the 40 (February 24, 2021)

Stock Market Commentary The split personality of the stock market resolved into major breakdowns in the stock market on Tuesday…for about 30 minutes. Apparently increasing inflation fears gave way to the soothing words of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the Fed’s semiannual monetary policy report to Congress. Buyers quickly met the latest sharp and … Read more

Overbought Period Demonstrates Freshly Bullish Sentiment for Stocks – Above the 40 (January 8, 2021)

Stock Market Commentary What a week to start the year’s trading. It started with a definitively bearish end to extended overbought conditions. Overbought conditions bullishly resumed in the middle of the week despite an insurrection in Washington D.C. The week ended with a confirmation of the freshly bullish sentiment in the market. The trading action … Read more

A Gathering Storm of Confirmed 50DMA Breakdowns Fail to Trigger Oversold Signal – Above the 40 (October 30, 2020)

Stock Market Statistics AT40 = 26.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 44.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (8-month high) VIX = 38.0 Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Stock Market Commentary A little over a week ago, the stock market looked poised to launch higher … Read more

Panic Buying, Catch-Up Trades Further Extend Overbought Stock Market – Above the 40 (June 5, 2020)

Stock Market Statistics AT40 = 90.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (overbought 13 of last 14 trading days)AT200 = 37.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (highest since February 26, 2020)VIX = 24.5Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Stock Market Commentary The on-going recovery in the stock market … Read more

A $2.3 Trillion End to An Extreme Oversold Period in the Stock Market – Above the 40 (April 10, 2020)

AT40 = 24.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (ended 31-day oversold period)AT200 = 10.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 41.7Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Stock Market Commentary “The Federal Reserve on Thursday took additional actions to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support … Read more

Rate Cut Cheer Not Yet Enough to Push Stock Market To Overbought – Above the 40 (July 12, 2019)

After a bullish run-up, AT40 (T2108) struggled all week to break through the overbought threshold.

AT40 = 68.2% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 54.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (essentially matches the 2019 high and is a new 10-month high)VIX = 12.4Short-term Trading Call: neutral (caveats below) Stock Market Commentary After the report on June jobs, financial markets got … Read more