Thursday, October 18, 2012

Hold That Line

The leading U.S. equity market index Nasdaq Composite underwent another day of selling pressure as disappointing earnings from Google (GOOG) (inadvertently released prior to the market close) weighed on the tech heavy index. 

As the chart below shows, despite recent weakness, the Nasdaq has remained above the recent uptrend line drawn from the recent June 5 lows.  So while that is encouraging for the bulls, we've now had 7 of the last 20 trading days end in distribution days (professional selling). 

The Nasdaq index dropped below the 50 DMA last week, then regained it on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, only to fall below it once again today.  This is another tool that many active professional traders use to monitor the strength of the market.

Also, the index has formed 2 small bear flags of late, and has traced out what could be an intermediate term head and shoulders top.  3037-3040 is a key area of short term support.

The DJIA and S&P 500 are still above their 50 DMAs as they are not reflecting the weakness in the Nasdaq.  So for now, the uptrend is intact as long as the indices can hold their recent respective uptrend lines.


Click on chart to enlarge:


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