StockCharts Blogs - Don't Ignore This Chart!

Nordstrom Shows Relative Weakness as Bollinger Bands Narrow

The stock market rallied in January, but Nordstrom (JWN) traded flat and shows relative weakness. Even though the stock has yet to break down, volatility is narrowing as the Bollinger Bands contract. Notice that Bollinger Band width is at its lowest in over six months. Watch the range for the next direction clue.

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A Golden Cross for the Dow Industrials

The technical picture for Dow is improving as the 50-day simple moving average crossed above the 200-day simple moving average. Note that the 50-day SMA has not been above the 200-day SMA since August. Also notice that the senior average is trading at its highest level since late July.


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Santa Delivers the 200-day for the S&P 500

The Santa Clause rally continued into Friday with the S&P 500 clearing its 200-day moving average in the early afternoon. Prior attempts in early December failed as the index fell back before the close. Let’s see if Santa can make good on this one. Merry Christmas!


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12 month Slope Indicator remains Positive for S&P 500

Taking a big step back to look at the big picture, the 12-month Slope indicator for the S&P 500 turned positive in September 2009 and remains positive. While this indicator does not pick exact tops or bottoms, it gives us a good idea of the long-term trend. Note the green and red arrows showing positive and negative crossovers.


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F5 Networks Gets Sandwiched Between Two Key Moving Averages

F5 Networks (FFIV) first broke below its 50-day SMA in January and then its 200-day moving average in March. The stock recovered with a break back above the 50-day in May, but has yet to reclaim the 200-day. The next moving average to break could hold the key to the next significant move.


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Dow bounces near key retracement

With the close at 10040 on Tuesday, the Dow retraced around 61.8% of its prior advance (Jul-Aug). This Fibonacci retracement sometimes marks a reversal zone. The Dow managed to recover after dip below 10000 on Friday and close above 10100. Resistance might not be far off through. The 50-day and 200-day moving averages are a few hundred points above current levels.


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Yuan Fund surges to long-term moving average

News that China adjusted its currency’s peg to the Dollar sent the Chinese Yuan Fund (CYB) surging back above 25. While the three week move may seem impressive, the ETF is really just making it back to its 52-week average. In fact, the ETF spent most of 2009 trading between 25.2 and 25.6. With today’s move, it is right back in last year’s range.


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Dollar Index breaks 12-month SMA

The 12-month SMA provides a pretty good clue on the overall direction for the US Dollar Index ($USD). There have been six crosses since 2002. Downside breaks captured long downtrends in 2002-2004 and 2006-2007. The upside breaks produced relatively short rallies that lasted almost a year. The current rally is four months old with an upside cross in February.

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PPD Finally Breaks Out

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We discussed PPD and its long struggle with the 50-day MA in a previous post.  Looks like things have finally changed!  Should be fun to watch during the next couple of days.

Getting Beat Down Legally (PPD)

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Help!  Police!  Pre-Paid Legal Services (PPD) is getting beat down by its 50-day Moving Average! Again!

This is the third time this year that PPD has failed to penetrate the 50-day MA (blue line).  Things were looking promising too - this stock showed up on a Bullish MACD scan yesterday (see the MACD Histogram going positive?) after a strong up day with good volume.  Still, this chart deserves to be watched closely as increased volume may lead (eventually) to a strong upside breakout.