Don't Ignore This Chart!

Lockheed Martin Holds the Line

Arthur Hill

Arthur Hill

Chief Technical Strategist, TrendInvestorPro.com

Stocks were hit hard in August with the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) moving below its 50-day line and mid July lows. Stocks and ETFs that did not break their 50-day lines and held above their mid July lows are showing relative "chart" strength. Lockheed Martin (LMT) is one such stock and a bullish continuation pattern is forming.

First and foremost, LMT is in a long-term uptrend. The stock is well above its 200-day SMA and the 50-day SMA is well above the 200-day SMA. Furthermore, the stock recorded 52-week highs in June and July. After hitting a new high in July, the stock moved into a small consolidation that looks like a triangle. A consolidation within an uptrend is typically a bullish continuation pattern and an upside breakout would open the door to further gains.

The indicator windows shows SPY in red and LMT in black. Notice how SPY fell in May and LMT continued to move higher. This signaled relative and absolute strength. Looking at the last two weeks, SPY fell to its lowest level since early June and LMT held the mid July low. Again, LMT held up better than SPY and this shows relative strength.

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Arthur Hill, CMT

Chief Technical Strategist, TrendInvestorPro.com

Author, Define the Trend and Trade the Trend


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Arthur Hill
About the author: , CMT, is the Chief Technical Strategist at TrendInvestorPro.com. Focusing predominantly on US equities and ETFs, his systematic approach of identifying trend, finding signals within the trend, and setting key price levels has made him an esteemed market technician. Arthur has written articles for numerous financial publications including Barrons and Stocks & Commodities Magazine. In addition to his Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation, he holds an MBA from the Cass Business School at City University in London. Learn More