At least one cannot say the market is boring, as might have been said a month ago. The daily ranges are still large, with both buy and sell programs springing up out of nowhere. The battle between the bulls and the bears seems to have settled in now, and there is a real question whether or not the rally can continue or whether it will have to retest the lows.
First and foremost, the $SPX chart still has a bearish look to it. This oversold rally has been very strong; there's no doubt about that. But oversold rallies often die out at about the declining 20-day moving average, or maybe just a little above that. This rally has just reached that level.
XIV: The Scapegoat of The Market’s Decline
As trading opened on Monday, February 5th, 2018, stocks had already been falling for a few days. Then on that day there was a major decline – the largest drop in point terms in history. The Dow was down 1,175 points. The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) was down 113 points. All other major stock indices suffered similar fates. Those net changes were effective as of the 4 p.m. (Eastern time) close of the NYSE.
In just nine trading days, $SPX is down 9.0% and has lost 291 points. That's a lot of distance in a short time. This decline has rolled nearly every intermediate term indicator into a bearish status, if it wasn't there already. It has also caused some massive oversold conditions to appear. But remember, "Oversold does not mean buy," and that is lesson that is harshly taught every time the market sells off like this.
Stocks sold off sharply this week -- the first decline of any note since early last December. This one may have some sticking power, though, as rally attempts failed all week, and then when support was broken on Friday morning, a rout was on.
The superlatives that are being used to describe this market are well-deserved. $SPX has advanced so fast that there really isn't any support, unless you want to declare the low of the "half-day" correction at 2825 a minor support area. The one clearly defined support area is the 2680-2700 area that was formed in late December and from which this January rally was launched.
Stocks continue to advance at a rapid rate. Despite one half day of correction (down 40 points from high to low on Tuesday), $SPX has closed at new all-time highs on three of the last five days. There is now minor support at 2770 -- the low of the half-day correction that took place.
