After a decline last week, the bulls reasserted themselves this week and pushed the major index ETFs up sharply the last three days. IWM and QQQ are up over 3% since Friday. SPY is up 2.36% in three days. The Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY) and the Finance SPDR (XLF) led the way higher during this three day surge. Even though the defensive sectors continue to hit new highs, XLY and XLF are by no means weak as these two close in on their early April highs. While we can never know what exactly triggered this rally, I would suggest that Europe played a small role because the European Top 100 Index ($EUR) held support and surged over 2%. This probably helped the big banks with global exposure.
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Key Reports and Events (all times Eastern):
Wed - Apr 24 - 07:00 - MBA Mortgage Index (EMC, MMM, QCOM, PG, XLNX)
Wed - Apr 24 - 08:30 - Durable Good Orders
Wed - Apr 24 - 10:30 - Oil Inventories
Thu - Apr 25 - 08:30 - Jobless Claims (AMZN, ALTR, XOM)
Thu - Apr 25 - 10:30 - Natural Gas Inventories
Fri - Apr 26 - 08:30 – GDP (CVX, TYC, WY)
Fri - Apr 26 - 09:55 - Michigan Sentiment
Charts of Interest: Tuesday and Thursday
This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is
not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise).
We all need to think for ourselves when it comes to trading our own accounts. First, it is
the only way to really learn. Second, we are the only ones responsible for our decisions.
Think of these charts as food for further analysis. Before making a trade, it is important
to have a plan. Plan the trade and trade the plan. Among other things, this includes setting
a trigger level, a target area and a stop-loss level. It is also important to plan for three
possible price movements: advance, decline or sideways. Have a plan for all three scenarios
BEFORE making the trade. Consider possible holding times. And finally, look at overall market
conditions and sector/industry performance.
About the author:
Arthur Hill, 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.
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