By Lawrence G. McMillan
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (MarketWatch) — The stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, reached a very important point: the top of the trading range, near 1,220-1,230. The trip to get to this point has been an interesting one.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
A week ago, we stated that the market was at a crucial juncture — that it had rallied to the 1,220-1,230 area on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and that it was either going to break out to the upside or retrace to the bottom of the trading range. What has happened is that the market has remained volatile around that area, but that so far there has not been a resolution of the bullish and bearish forces.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, remains volatile within a trading range. It reverses direction at will, and hasn’t been able to sustain moves for weeks now. Today’s trading is typical of that description. In fact, it’s been volatile in this manner all week.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (MarketWatch) — The broad stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is trading within a large, volatile range that should have significance when a breakout finally occurs. There is a generally bullish bias to the technical indicators right now, but that certainly doesn’t mean that a clear path has been laid out for a new bull market. We have not changed our outlook that another severe decline could easily loom on the horizon.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The stock market remains volatile, but it has generally been rising since establishing lows near 1,120 on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index nearly a month ago. The rise certainly hasn’t been uniform, though.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (MarketWatch) — After Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech last Friday, the market sold off rather sharply. But once that selling got out of the way, a strong bullish move took place, carrying the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index higher by more than 70 points in just over one full trading day.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The rally that was underway a week ago ended abruptly, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index traded back down to its lows at 1,120. After a few days of testing that area, during which the index closed near that 1,120 level each day, the market has rallied. This rally was initially supported by extremely oversold conditions, but has begun to garner some other buy signals as well.
Let’s review the indicators.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The rally that could have sprung up at any time – given the oversold conditions that existed – is taking place. As we mentioned in the Volatility Report (overnight), a key factor was the CBOE’s Equity-only Put-call ratio exceeding 1.00 on Friday. That is rare and usually precedes a strong (but short-lived) rally within a day or two. It other indicators don’t chime in today, this move may more or less be the extent of that signal.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The last two weeks seem like they took two months. It’s hard to believe, but two weeks ago, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was near the high end of its range, with positive technical indicators, and an upside breakout seemed a possibility.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (MarketWatch) — Heading into Tuesday, I didn’t think the market could act any worse, but it did. It’s almost impossible to fathom that the market was rising with improving technicals eight trading sessions ago.
