By Lawrence G. McMillan
With last Thursday’s breakout to the upside by the Standard & Poors 500 Index over the 1,390 level, the technical indicators were mostly positive.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (MarketWatch) — When the broad stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, broke down through the important 1,390 support level in early April, it seemed that the bears would finally have their chance to take control after a long run by the bulls.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (MarketWatch) — Despite the occasional overbought condition, the stock market – as measured by the Standard & Poors 500 Index — continues to plow higher. Considering that support levels keep building up below the market, and that overbought conditions rotate out without any major damage to the bullish market, it is clear that the bulls are still in charge.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
Yesterday seemed to be a typical “Turnaround Tuesday” – an opposite reaction to a strong market move on Monday. In the past, this was a common occurrence, but so far this year there hasn’t been much of anything that would cause the market to decline. So perhaps we are returning to a bit more of a normal, and perhaps more volatile, market. $SPX made a new post-2008 intraday high before closing lower. There is support near 1410, and then stronger support at 1385-1390.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The bulls aren’t going to find a much better market than this one. Overbought conditions are worked off with minimal — almost “stealth” — corrections. Volatility remains low, while prices continue to rise. Support levels continue to build up along the way. And public opinion remains skeptical or even bearish in certain areas.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
(Marketwatch) - Just a week ago, the market had its worst day of the year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index finally touched and even closed below its 20-day moving average, for the first time in 52 trading days.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (MarketWatch) — As this bull market has progressed — especially the most recent leg since the early October lows of 2011 — volatility has steadily dropped. Now it has reached a point where one might reasonably consider defensive or even bearish strategies, but not until there is at least one initial break in the bullish trend.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
Ben Bernanke doesn’t have a lot of friends these days, and he lost some of those with his statements before Congress yesterday.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (MarketWatch) — The bulls have been completely in charge. While there may be some short-term victories ahead for the bears, it appears the bulls are not finished yet.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) has been struggling this week. It hasn’t been going down, but it’s been apparent that it was too overbought to go up much, either. Then today, Fed Chairman Bernanke announced the de facto beginning of QE 3, which propelled financial assets of all sorts (except the U.S. dollar) to rally. SPX moved 20 points off its lows; T-Bond futures soared more than two points, Gold rallied $60, and so forth. You get the idea.
