A Strong Week After Tariff Rumors and Relief – The Market Breadth

bad news is good news (Credit: Yi Chen, The Skeptical Chihuahua, Taipei, on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary The tariff rumors proved true after all. The green shoots of Monday that grew alongside the rumor of a pause presaged Wednesday’s massive relief from a real blink on tariffs. Those historic gains were large enough to generate a strong week broadly across the stock market. Still, as more blinking and backing … 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 (November 1, 2018) – An Extended Oversold Period Ends with Important Footnotes

AT40 = 21.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) – ends an 11-day oversold period that followed a 4-day oversold period AT200 = 32.0% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 19.3 Short-term Trading Call: bullish Commentary AT40 (T2108), the percentage of stocks trading above their respective … Read more

Above the 40 (June 22, 2018) – Stock Market Bears Increase the Pressure

AT40 = 63.1% ƒof stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 54.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (a 4-month high) VIX = 13.8 Short-term Trading Call: bearish Commentary In my last Above the 40 post, I described how growing global trade wars are creating widening divergences in … Read more

Above the 40 (June 11, 2018) – A Scramble to Catch Up As Stock Market Flips Overbought

AT40 = 71.1% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (first overbought day) AT200 = 57.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (a 4-month high) VIX = 12.4 Short-term Trading Call: bullish Commentary After 92 trading days, the stock market is finally overbought again. The last overbought period ended … Read more

Above the 40 (May 18, 2018) – Stock Market Drift Stalls Bearish Signal

AT40 = 64.6% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 51.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 13.4 Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary Looks like there was a good reason to wait on flipping my short-term trading call back to (cautiously) bearish. After pointing out … Read more

Above the 40 (May 11, 2018) – The Stock Market’s Time to Test Buyers’ Resolve

AT40 = 65.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 51.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 12.7 Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary Here we are again. The stock market looks like it is breaking free, but there are major caveats which keep me wary … 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

XLI’s Main Components Lead Surge into Breakout Territory

I spoke a day to soon on the bearish downtrend on XLI, the SPDRs Select Sector Industrial ETF. A healthy 3% one-day gain sent the ETF hurtling over resistance and into breakout territory. The next line of resistance is the June high or the “left shoulder” formed in late May/early June, depending on your perspective. … Read more