Project Calm from the Feds Bounces Stocks Away from Oversold – The Market Breadth

calm

Stock Market Commentary: The Feds delivered on Sunday as Janet Yellen promised. The FDIC, the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve joined forces to offer emergency financial backing and reassurances for the banking system, a kind of “Project Calm” to project calm. The Federal Reserve even came up with a new acronym that looks like a … Read more

Bears Convert Picture-Perfect Resistance Into Major Breakdowns – The Market Breadth

major breakdown (Credit: ms4jah on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: Unlike the prior week, last week was all about the fundamentals, and the fundamentals made a huge difference. After failing to break through picture-perfect resistance levels, especially the 20-day moving averages (DMAs) (the dotted lines in the charts below), the indices were left vulnerable to selling pressure. The pressure started with Federal … Read more

Picture-Perfect Support for the Bulls – The Market Breadth

picture-perfect support (Credit: KGA Team 6th Grade)

Stock Market Commentary: Put all the headlines aside. Last week was all about the technicals. Picture-perfect support unfolded for the major indices and stopped bearish momentum dead in its tracks. Suddenly, the stock market went from the verge of confirming a short-term top from early February to looking ready to make a run at challenging … Read more

A Question for the Year’s First 6 Weeks – The Market Breadth

question for the first 6 weeks of the year (Credit: Leo Reynolds on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: Was the second trading day of February the peak for the S&P 500? After a 1.4% gain nearly finished reversing the losses from last August’s Jackson Hole, the index lost momentum. While the index churned for the following 2 weeks, trashed stocks from 2022 continued to soar. Even that momentum seemed to … Read more

A Seesaw Between Resistance and Support – The Market Breadth

seesaw (Credit: lovlibovli on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: The stock market this month has teetered on a seesaw alternating from resistance to support. The rapid back and forth makes it too easy to overinterpret both ends of these swings. However, a slow and steady convergence of resistance and support levels portends a potential big move ahead. Active and high volume … Read more

A Bullish Bear Market – The Market Breadth

bullish bear (Credit: ell brown on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: This stock market is one bullish bear market. A bear market perhaps cannot get more bullish than the current market. Since the October lows, the various indices have shown a general upside bias. As much time that I have spent the last several weeks looking for excuses to get bearish, the market … Read more

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

Yet Another Jobs Report Takes the Shine Off A Post-Fed High – The Market Breadth

shine off (Credit: christophercjensen on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: On cue, the stock market groaned at fresh signs of economic strength, this time from another strong jobs report. The recession Wall Street wants is on hold yet again. The bullish intent that charged out of the wake of the Federal Reserve’s last statement on monetary policy made a sharp u-turn. The … Read more

Bullish Intent Extends Overbought Conditions – The Market Breadth

bullish intent (Credit Demitry_S on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: The stock market oozed with bullish intent as it pushed its way through the latest Federal Reserve statement on monetary policy. While Jerome Powell made sure to stick to the script and introduced no surprises to the market, he was surprisingly reluctant to underline the Fed’s hawkishness. The market made a mile … Read more

It’s Been 10 Months Since the S&P 500 Last Did This – The Market Breadth

10 months (Credit: Filling in the gaps: ‘America’s Battalion’ begins final pre-deployment training exercise by DVIDSHUB on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: The S&P 500 defended support at its 200-day moving average (DMA) for the first time in 10 months. The index was down 1.7% at its lows where it pierced its 200DMA and looked ready to challenge its 50DMA. Buyers stepped in at that point and proceeded to reverse the entire loss on … Read more