Daily Commentary

Ok, so today’s action in the stock market wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it was bad.  You all know the headlines and the reasons, so I won’t address them.  The headlines blame the housing market, rising gas prices, rising interest rates, etc. A few of the major stocks had declined greatly…

My, how the mighty have fallen! I admit that the following charts are not as bad as they could be, but nonetheless, many traders were trapped in these overnight blunders and are underwater with (temporarily) dashed hopes. The reason each of these stock ‘blunders’ is remarkable is that there was great news or ‘hype’ in…

I promised more weekly uptrends to study in the last post and here are a few examples: Warnaco Group – WRNC – is exhibiting a “two-step” move and is currently beginning a potential sell swing lower (aka – not time to buy now… study the chart only): Blue Coat Systems – BCSI -  Notice the…

I tend to get caught up on the daily charts and play for smaller targets and this is a bane of mine and – I suspect – many short-term traders as well.  When you position yourself on daily charts for swing candidates, you may play for $5 or $10 per swing with respective stops of…

The Big News of the day was of course the missing earnings consensus estimates by Dow giant Caterpillar (CAT) and Nasdaq/S&P 500 giant Google (GOOG). These major point moves serve as a warning for those who like to speculate directly before earnings reports are released – doing so is pure speculation and lacks objective edge…

Today was yet another record day for the Dow Jones Index, and writers are taking note by utilizing many pixels and ink to share this fact with their readers. The Dow officially closed at 14,000.41. Yes, it is impressive and yes, it is a record, but let us remember that the Dow Jones Index tracks…

The Dow Jones set another new all-time closing high today, but it was the only major US index to show an advance on the day.  The largest index decline came from the Russell 2000, which has lagged the S&P, Nasdaq, and Dow in terms of making new highs and its technical pattern (it remains rangebound)….

I know the headline gives it away, but a positive momentum divergence is clearly forming on the US Dollar Index, as evidenced by the 3/10 momentum oscillator and a “Swing Chart” reading. The dollar index recently made new lows, which hit the newswaves rapidly, but from a technical perspective, we have at least three bullish…

We’ve all read the headlines today – the Dow gained 280 points, a feat which hasn’t happened in four years.  The bulls mauled the bears today, and the buying pressure far outweighed the selling pressure. All major indexes, with the exception of the Russell 2000 (Small cap) broke to new highs, the S&P 500 and…

Today’s market action shouldn’t have surprised active traders.  Why?  The indexes were showing short-term overbought conditions as well as an overextension in oscillators, combined with the testing of a newly established trading range (upper boundary).  Volatility bands also showed odds strongly favored a retest of the midlines. It is frustrating for new traders to accept…