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

Stock Market Battle Royale: Regime Change Or A Big, Bad Bubble? – Above the 40 (January 26, 2021)

Stock Market Commentary After the stock market ended its last overbought period, I hesitated to drop my short-term trading call back to bearish. Three days later and the market has yet to snap back into overbought trading conditions. As the major indices levitate, my favorite breadth indicator, AT40 (T2108), the percentage of stocks trading above … Read more

Stock Market Gap-Downs Send Traders Back to High Tech Playbook – Above the 40 (September 21, 2020)

Stock Market Statistics AT40 = 28.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs). (traded as low as 24.8%)AT200 = 40.0% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 27.8 (traded as high as 31.1)Short-term Trading Call: neutral (changed from cautiously bearish) Stock Market Commentary For a brief moment the entire … Read more

Above the 40 (July 27, 2018) – Stock Market Weaknesses Confirm Earlier Bearish Divergence

AT40 = 49.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 53.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 13.0 Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary The S&P 500 (SPY) managed to gain on the week, but it was not easy. Each day of the week delivered new … Read more

Deconstructing Materials Stocks

The deconstruction continues in material stocks. The culprit this time around was a poor reading and interpretation of construction spending. Per AP News: “U.S. construction spending dropped 1.7 percent in March, the biggest setback in 11 months, with weakness in a number of sectors including the biggest plunge in home building in nine years. The … Read more

U.S. Concrete: An Attractively Priced Bet On A Strong U.S. Economy – (Another Interview with CEO Bill Sandbrook)

Two weeks ago I expressed concern about the poor performance of the materials sector. The sector was under-performing the general market which seemed particularly ominous given the generally strong outlook for the economy. At the time, I expressed my hope that another interview with Bill Sandbrook, CEO of U.S. Concrete (USCR), would clear the air … Read more

Materials Build On A Bearish Breakdown

This picture is exactly what I do not want to see as the stock market struggles to hold critical technical supports: a major index of economically-sensitive stocks confirming a breakdown of support at its 200-day moving average (DMA). The Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB) lost 1.3% on a day when the S&P 500 (SPY) … Read more

Chart Review: A Cautious Eye on Cyclicals – Materials and Industrials

Cyclical stocks continue to worry me even as the S&P 500 treads water. Charts across a wide swath of related stocks show inabilities to break critical resistance and in some cases, are outright breaking down. Here are several representative charts along with brief commentary. The Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) and the Industrial Select Sector … Read more