A big swing for bulls brought some of the strongest buying I have seen from the Trade Ideas scan. The top-8 picks were selected in under a minute and the "20-appearance" list racked in at 4 minutes , this reflected across the board buying. Bulls weren't able to regain all of Thursday's losses and resistance was untouched by the buying, but bears were left grinding and gnashing their teeth into the weekend. If you would like to try a full version of the Trade-Ideas software, follow this link for a free 7-day trial. Trade Ideas

Finally, a day of selling hits the markets. I will be watching for Richard Lehman's updates to see what price channels are forming. Unfortunately, it was the Russell 2000 which received the biggest blow, destroying much of the work bulls had done to set the index up for a potential breakout. The Trade Ideas scan just crossed the bearish side of the fence - not too bad considering the level selling reflected in the indices; the top 8 picks came in at 11 minutes (I consider anything above 10 minutes for this indicator as bearish), while there were only 3 picks on the "20-appearance list": Post Properties ( PPS ), Vicon Industries ( VII ), and ProAssurance group ( PRA ) The selling resulted in another exited position for my Collective2 portfolio, leaving just two positions in play (15% equity: 85% cash). Cenveo ( CVO ) cut below tight support derived from April's tight trading; this resulted in the exit of a 400 share position for a -$227 loss ( -2% ). Get these tra

It has been a while since the last loan. The latest comes courtesy of E. Haraldsson and brings the number of funded loans to 18 with 5 paid back. KIVA

Alan Brochstein (via SeekingAlpha which for me was via The Kirk Report !) wrote an interesting piece on dividend paying stocks. Below is an excerpt which highlights some of the key points to look for when shopping for a dividend paying stock: High yields aren’t necessarily the best yields. If the investor starts with the present dividend yield, it is essential to understand where it is coming from and where it is headed. First, the investor should examine the balance sheet – is it laden with debt? Is that debt due soon? Are there other problems, like excess inventory or accumulating receivables? Next, the investor should examine the “payout ratio”, which is essentially the dividend divided by the earnings. If the company is paying out today more than it is making, then the likelihood of continuing to receive that dividend might be low. If it paying out very little, then there is room to grow. Finally, one should have an understanding of the value of the stock, which will obviously re

There will be only brief posts (or not posts at all) over the next few days as I prepare for a Ph.D. student defense. The Trade Ideas scan was on the bearish side of the fence with the top 8 picks covering 12 minutes , while the "20-appearance list" covered 2 hours and 11 minutes (more on the neutral side of things). If you would like to try a full version of the Trade-Ideas software, follow this link for a free 7-day trial. Trade Ideas

An interesting week for the markets as large caps pulled a bigger gap on small caps, while Tech indices following the large caps higher. What did the Stockcharters have to say about it? Joe Reed has a good NYSE Composite Index showing the Stochastic buy signal at previous reaction lows of the stochastic (week of Mar 12-19 and Mar 26-31): I have featured this chart of his before, but it is a handy one to reference: The weekly S&P chart has the March reaction low illustrated by oversold technicals. Although picking a top is a bit more difficult as they tend to be choppy: Mitchell Meana sees the Nasdaq 100 fast approaching his upside target: but the NYSE has exceeded it: Ted Burge is more bearish. He has a good chart for the semiconductors which currently sit right at resistance: He also has a volatility Point-n-Figure chart for the Qs - note the reversal from 46.89 resistance: Mixed signals for the Gold/Silver; a picture perfect reversal off resistance for the Gold and Silver Ind

A tale of two cities. Never ending gains for large caps (lagging indices): But struggles for small caps (the leadership index): With tech caught in the middle: Fallond