By Lawrence G. McMillan
Until today, the market didn’t seem to be reacting too badly to the standoff taking place in Washington, regarding the raising of the debt ceiling and the possible downgrading of U.S. government debt.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The stock market staged a strong rally on Tuesday. Was it just a “Turnaround Tuesday” — a reaction to an oversold condition that had developed via the heavy selling of last week — or was it a true change of sentiment from bearish to bullish? To answer that question, we can look to our technical indicators, for several of them are right on the brink of turning bullish. The bulls actually had a strong chance to effect that change today, and they did not.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The market had a powerful showing Tuesday with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallying 1.6% for the day. Market indicators suggest a potential 100-point rise in the index over the next few months.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The market was extremely strong through last Thursday, and then the wheels began to fall off. The market has fallen sharply since then, and both yesterday and today, late-day declines wiped out promising rallies.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The week leading up to the Fourth of July holiday was a “perfect storm” of bullish activity, or at least it turned out that way. There were several technical, seasonal, and even some fundamental factors at work. There was an oversold condition, month-end window dressing, first-of-the-money seasonal factor, pre-holiday bullish seasonal patterns, and even some help from Europe (delaying the Greek credit crisis). Add it all together and it was one of the strongest weeks in recent memory.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The S&P 500 Index is trying to reverse its downtrend, and appears that it has at least partially done so.
The downtrending 20-day moving average of SPX SPX +0.73% is at about 1297, and the highs of last week were at 1298. So a close above that level would change the SPX chart from bearish to neutral. A close above 1310 would turn it bullish.
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By Lawrence G. McMillan
After some major oversold conditions developed, the stock market managed two tepid rally days and then one strong one. That brought the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index back up to its declining 20-day moving average, which is usually about the full extent of an oversold rally.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The current downtrend in the market remains intact, as rallies are getting shorter in time (one-day affairs, mostly) and downward moves are faster and larger. This is further evidence of the fact that the primary trend is down.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
For the first time in quite a while, the bulls seem to have no power. Rallies are weak and quickly fade to new lows. Oversold conditions that, in the recent past, would have generated strong reflex rallies are having no effect at all. So the overall picture is bearish, but those oversold conditions continue to build along with some other buy signals, and so are worth noting as well.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The market has had some very volatile short-term moves in the past few weeks. A strong rally over the past week gave way today to one of the largest down days in quite a while.
