By Lawrence G. McMillan
Yesterday's market was one of the quietest days so far. $SPX had a total range of 5.34 points for the entire day. That is minuscule. In recent months, this sort of action has only been a precursor to further upside movement – and it wouldn't be surprising to see it happen again. Of course, there are still overbought conditions, but we would expect any correction to be short-lived and probably contained by support at $SPX 1430-1440.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The stock market continues to march higher, listening to its own bullish rhythms and eschewing the potentially bad news that has kept many investors on the sidelines.
Today's rally has taken $SPX all the way up to the upper band of the bullish channel that has defined this market since early June. That in itself is an overbought condition of sorts. Today's highs also exceed the late 2008 highs, so the next target is the late 2007 highs, near 1500.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The market continues to move higher, albeit at a very slow pace. The bears have been frustrated at mostly every turn, as one negative news item after another has been tossed aside in favor of the “risk-on” strategies dictated by the expected monetary easings from both Europe and the U.S.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The stock market, as measured by the Standard and Poors 500 Index ($SPX) has been meandering sideways for the past couple of weeks. This had the effect of alleviating the overbought conditions that had existed two weeks ago. Finally, today, the ennui ended, as $SPX blasted to the upside. It made new post-2008 highs, and it looks certain now to test 1440-1450.
Equity-only put-call ratios have remained on buy signals throughout the last three months. However, they are now reaching extremely low levels on their charts.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The stock market has been in a dull, drifting mode all week. It is still easily within the bullish trend channel that began last August, and as long as that statement continues to be true, the bulls have the upper hand.
Equity-only put-call ratios are beginning to waver, but for the time being they remain on buy signals.
Market breadth oscillators turned bearish a week ago. They have remained on sell signals ever since.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
For quite some time now (perhaps since last November), we have been pointing out how the voracious appetite for volatility protection has had the effect of distorting the term structure of the $VIX futures. Recently, though, this activity has branched out in a way that is only rarely seen in the markets: in short, large institutional traders are both buying stocks and buying volatility ETNs (thus, by inference, they are buying $VIX futures).
By Lawrence G. McMillan
For most of the last two weeks, the Standard & Poors 500 Index ($SPX) plowed ahead, finally making new post-2008 highs this past Tuesday. Our intermediate-term indicators have been bullish for over two months now, so these new highs were in line with those indicators. However, as soon as the new highs were made, $SPX began to retreat, and an overbought correction now appears to be underway.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
This market is becoming the ultimate in defying bearish opinion. Since June 1st, $SPX has advanced almost exactly 150 points and is nearly back to the yearly highs -- and therefore at a post-2008 high. Yet, bearish opinion is still rather rampant.
$SPX remains within the rising trading channel that extends back to early June (see Figure 1). It is near the top of the channel, so in that sense, it is "overbought."
Equity-only put-call ratios continue to remain on buy signals.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
(Barron's) - This bull market is rather unpopular—and that's good.
Since the rally began in early June, most investors and traders have doubted the advance because they were so afraid of Europe's debt crisis, U.S. economic problems, and even the U.S. presidential election.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
Stocks have rallied to the top of the bullish $SPX channel (see chart, Figure 1). The top of the channel is at about 1410 currently, and the yearly highs are at 1420. So, that area is likely to provide some resistance for now.
Meanwhile, equity-only put-call ratios remain bullish.
Market breadth indicators are on buy signals, having reversed negative signals from the previous week.
