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Selling Intensifies

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Looks like Gamestock Part II has put a scare in the market!  While this stock starts another wild ride, the broader market took a step back. Today's move carries more weight because it marked the first wide intraday day in a while, and was the first real day of selling experienced since September. For the Nasdaq, this amounted to a support break and a close below its 50-day MA. Volume selling was lighter, but perhaps shareholders aren't as worried as they probably should be...

Sellers hit Nasdaq and S&P 50-day MAs

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Perhaps a degree of complacency has crept into the market? Today's selling brought the Nasdaq and S&P back to successful tests of their 50-day MAs. What was concerning was the general lack of volume on what is typically an important support test for the indices.  Both the S&P and Nasdaq were able to stage successful intraday recoveries, but again, volume should have been more to support it.  What we need to watch for tomorrow are losses - typically from the open - that push down into today's spike low for the aforementioned indices. Particularly if this selling volume picks up relative to today.  I would think any close below today's finish would indicate that today's lows (or the 50-day MAs.) will act as support for long.  The Nasdaq probably did enough to defend trend support, although technically there was a big uptick in ADX, and the bearish MACD accelerated downwards. 

Russell 2000 ends the week on a high

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After drifting towards a period of under performance relative to the S&P and Nasdaq, the Russell 2000 was finally able to post same gains to at least stall the weakening momentum. The Russell 2000 was able to make its stand at its 20-day MA on higher volume accumulation. However, it still has 'sell' triggers in the MACD and On-Balance-Volume.

Low volume selling finds support

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A third day of selling for indices saw some preliminary support get tested.  In the case of the Nasdaq it was converged support established from the January swing high and its 20-day MA.  It did come on the back of a MACD trigger 'sell', but other technicals are in good shape. Plus, there is a new relative performance 'buy' signal relative to the Russell 2000.  There may be a short term 'buy' available given the relatively light selling volume which took it there.

Light Selling

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We are not seeing a whole lot from either side of the market, just a mixed sequence of low key buying and selling which so far has edged in bulls favor, but there would be no give aways on the daily reporting - only by looking at the weekly charts would you see the benefits of this action. For the Nasdaq we are seeing is a general drop in trading volume after a steady build up since early November. Whether this is a sign of things to come remains to be seen. The index is slowly building towards a period of potential relative outperformance, which should help it attract buyers. Other technicals are net bullish with On-Balance-Volume going particularly well despite the recent drop in trading volume. 

Buyers consume selling pressure

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Just as sellers were trying to exert some control in the market, along come buyers to soak up the supply and then add to demand. There wasn't a whole lot of buying volume on Friday, but there was enough to at least leave indices near weekly highs.  The Nasdaq didn't close at a new all-time high, but it did enough to pressure the early week high with technicals all net bullish. The relative loss against the Russell 2000 is slowing, but it hasn't yet generated a trigger which would mark relative outperformance

Sellers Make A Return

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No surprise to see sellers make an appearance after a sequence of gains. It was fairly measured selling without any real panic and the percentage loss was light. Buyers were able to make back some of the losses by the close of business. The first test for the indices will be the January swing high.  Both the Nasdaq and S&P are underperforming the Russell 2000, so there was a risk selling could have been more emphatic for these indices, but this was not the case. 

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