$SPX has now climbed slightly above its declining 20-day moving average, and that is where oversold rallies usually die out. Despite the strength of the last week, $SPX has not even exceeded last week's high, much less the more important peak of early December. It is in a downtrend, with a pattern of lower highs and lower lows.
The stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index ($SPX), did a complete about-face this week, despite the terrorist atrocities after the market closed last Friday.
The rally has carried back to just above the 20-day moving average. Ultimately, there is resistance from 2115 to 2135, the series of market tops that have been made in the last year.
The strong bull run that took place throughout October and into early November is over. The break of support at 2070 was negative for $SPX. It could trade down to the 2000-2020 area in the short term.
Equity-only put-call ratios have remained on buy signals, even as $SPX has begun to falter. This perhaps indicates that the current decline is just a minor correction, and not something of a more intermediate-term nature.
The stock market's strong rally has continued for another week, although it's beginning to act a bit tired, and the market is getting overbought. Even so, the $SPX chart is still in an uptrend, and there is support at 2040, 2020 and 2000.
Equity-only put-call ratios continue to plunge, and that is bullish for stocks. These ratios are now in the lower portion of their charts, which is just on the verge of being overbought.
The stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poors 500 Index ($SPX), has gained 220 points in a month (since the September 28th lows). After such a strong advance in so short of a time, one would have to say that the market is overbought. Even so, actual sell signals have been hard to come by.
The $SPX chart itself remains bullish in that it is in a pattern of higher highs and higher lows, and the 20-day moving average is rising.
Earlier this week, it appeared that the rally that began at the end of October was lagging. But then Thursday, the market blew through resistance at 2040 and reaffirmed the bullish case with authority. A violation of the 1990 would remove the "bullish" label from the $SPX chart.
Equity-only put-call ratios remain on buy signals, as they continue to decline (Figures 2 and 3).
The stock market has taken on a much more bullish tone since the late- September lows. We had several buy signals on September 30th, and they were well-timed. The bullish case is still strong, even after $SPX has advanced 150 points this month.
A week ago, we noted that there were three short-term, oversold buy signals. Now, more buy signals are occurring, and these are of the intermediate-term variety. The last hurdle was cleared today, when the $SPX closed above 2000.
Equity-only put-call ratios remain on buy signals, as they continue to decline from recent highs.
Despite a couple of rough days this week, buy signals have emerged from our short-term oversold indicators, and so we have a more bullish outlook for the short term but not necessarily for the intermediate- term.
$SPX has retested the August lows and formed a "W" bottom, so that is support at 1870. A violation of that area would force a retest of the October lows at 1820. A move above 2000 would be bulllish.
The $SPX chart remains bearish. During the oversold rally that failed at the 2000 level, an upward trend line had developed on the $SPX chart, connecting the daily lows since the 1870 bottom. That trend line was broken decisively this week, as $SPX fell back below its 20-day moving average. For now, the $SPX chart is bearish as long as it remains below the broken trend line (see Figure 1).
