May 2006 Archives

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None

May 30, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I got a suggestion today about adding trend indicators to these daily recaps:

I'm almost surprised that you don't post a short-, medium- and long-term indicator each day with regard to the direction of the market. Seems this is what you are looking for when formulating your plays each day. It also seems that many people (including myself) struggle with this area. More specifically, as a novice, I've been honing my skills on identifying good entries when the market is going up in the short term. This is great when all the trends are pointing up. When the market turns down, I'm forced to sit on my hands and be patient. This is difficult and the temptation to jump in is hard to resist. I'm trying to learn how to identify short-selling opportunities, but I'm not always comfortable with gauging the direction of the market.

That sounds like a great idea. It's something that Worden (TeleChart) provides in their daily report as well. So I'm going to steal copy borrow the idea from them. In general, I'll define the primary, intermediate and short-term trends by using the 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages respectively. Here's today's trend table:

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDown(-)Down(-)Down(-)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend


I guess it's no surprise that the short-term trends turned down today. It was another bloodbath today, although the selling came on light volume. I'm still looking for last week's lows to be retested. In fact, I can't imagine why anybody would put in a bid above last week's low. ;-)

Here's the Nasdaq chart, which is in full bear mode:

Watchlist for May 30, 2006

Looks like that retest of the recent lows may be starting already. The futures are down this morning for some or all of the following -- Wal-Mart's sales disappointment, a GM downgrade, European markets down ~1% across the board, and oil rising above $72/barrel.

Potential swing trades:

May 26, 2006 Stock Market Recap

I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about volume. I didn't like the new S&P 500 highs on so-so volume on May 5th and I don't trust the low volume rally we've had for the last two sessions. Even with decent volume I'd be surprised for the market to make a V-bottom after a slide like it's had the last few weeks. But given this light volume rise I'd be very surprised if the indices didn't retest the recent lows over the next week or so.



T2108 has bounced up over 30 after spending a couple of days under that 'magic' 20 level. Note that in April 2004 and October 2004 T2108 bounced off of 20 only to retest that level a few days later. I suspect we'll see similar action this time...


Chart Request: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)

Here's a chart of LMT for James. This is one of those "no man's land" charts -- between its (now declining) 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average. That tells me that the stock is bearish in the intermediate term (under the 'fiddy') but still bullish long term (above the 200).

For the last three session the stock has been threatening to break support and confirm a double top pattern. That double top is about six points tall which means that if LMT finally breaks support at 72 it could fall to the 66 area -- conveniently near the 200-day moving average. So bears will want to watch for a close under 72.

From the bull side, it's oversold and has made to hammer-like candles right on support. It looks ready to bounce to me. My concern though, is can it get past that blue trendline and then the 50-day moving average. Although the risk/reward looks pretty good using Friday's low as a stop loss and targeting the 50-day moving average, that trendline throws a monkey wrench in the program. If I were to buy it here I'd be ready to bail if it looked like that trendline was going to hold.


Watchlist for May 26, 2006

Despite the low volume yesterday the S&P and Nasdaq managed to break their steep downward sloping trendlines. They both sit right at resistance. It'll be interesting to see if they can close above those resistance zones given that volume should be even lighter today.




Potential swing trades:

Watchlist for May 25, 2006

The market's gapping up again, with an extra boost from the revised GDP numbers. However, unlike yesterday, today it's actually trading above the previous day's high. Maybe this will finally get some shorts to cover and bring in some real buyers...


Potential swing trades:

May 31, 2006 Stock Market Recap

It seems like every week I find another website that's stealing my (and others') content in an attempt to get ad revenue from Google. (I think Google has made it too easy for people to sign up.) I just noticed another one a few minutes ago. Since so many people have no respect for copyrights I may be forced to switch my feeds back to summaries only. Sorry to those subscribers who like the full text feed.

Trading was very choppy today. The market had a nice rally early in the day and subsequently gave up all of its gains after the Fed minutes were released. Buyers managed to push the market back towards the day's highs late in the day. After all was said & done the S&P regained about half of yesterday's losses and the Nasdaq regained about a third of Tuesday's loss.

The charts are a tough read right now given that the market's just been thrashing around for the last 9 sessions. Today's candlesticks tell me to look for continued upside but the stochastics are telling me this is a spot to be a seller. I plan on keying off of the break of today's Nasdaq range -- I'm a buyer above and a seller below.


The S&P managed to hold its 200-day moving average:


Given that the S&P and Russell were able to reclaim their 10-day moving averages I'm reclassifying their short-term trends as up.

TrendNasdaqS&P 500Russell 2000
PrimaryLAUpUp
IntermediateDownDownDown
Short-termDownUp(+)Up(+)

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
LA Indicates a Lateral trend

Recent Links

Chart Request: Intel Corp. (INTC)

Eric wants to know if I think Intel is due for a bounce. My answer is 'probably'. Although I see little in the chart to make me bullish I can see Intel moving back toward 19. Sellers appear to be exhausting themselves around the 18 level. The stock is oversold on the weekly (and slower daily stochastic setting than I use.) Still, there's plenty of overhead resistance to work through and I think the easier play is to short it near the top of the channel.


Here's the weekly chart:


Chart Request: NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD)

Here's a daily and a weekly chart of NIHD for Jack. Like many other stocks right now, the long term trend is bullish but the intermediate and short-term trends are down. If I wasn't already in it I'd be in no rush to buy as long as that downward sloping trend channel is still in effect.


The weekly chart shows that NIHD could pull back to the mid 40s and still be in a long-term uptrend. The bottom of the weekly channel would be a great entry point for long-term "investors":


Watchlist for May 31, 2006

We're set for a slightly higher open tis morning. Trading may be a bit muted until after the Fed meeting minutes are released at 2 PM. (Why can't they just release them in the morning???) I may not do too much ahead of the release, unless, of course, my shorts start triggering...

Potential swing trades:

Shorts: ADM, ALKS, ALTR, AMLN, AMZN, ANDE, BJS, BRCD, CBE, CNX, CVTX, DAKT, DNR, EBAY, ECLP, ERICY, FLR, FLS, KLAC, MYOG, NDAQ, NEW, PD, SBAC, SSRI, STLD, SU, TS, VIP, VLO

Longs: None