The Canadian Technician

Energy Stocks Break Out To Start The Rally

Greg Schnell

Greg Schnell

Chief Technical Analyst, Osprey Strategic

It has been the oddest of circumstances. The pressure on the oil supply has been immense, but the oil stocks just couldn't break out. In what has been the most bullish of backdrops, it seemed unfathomable that the oil names weren't going higher. The recent 25% drop in oil stocks was vicious, with drillers like PDS, PD.TO falling 12% in one day.

But as the market formed a hammer candle on Monday, the last two days showed some tremendous enthusiasm to move back into the oil trade. Breakouts galore came in after the Fed announcement. Check out this example of Exxon Mobil (XOM) breaking out:

The XLE is a broad group of energy stocks. Exxon Mobil and Chevron are the big boys in the ETF, at almost 1/2 of the holdings, it is still representative of the broader sector.

One of the keys to buying near the lows is to identify the sectors and industries breaking out. This looks like a great place to start.

Good trading,
Greg Schnell, CMT, MFTA
Senior Technical Analyst, StockCharts.com
Author, Stock Charts For Dummies


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Greg Schnell
About the author: , CMT, MFTA is Chief Technical Analyst at Osprey Strategic specializing in intermarket and commodities analysis. He is also the co-author of Stock Charts For Dummies (Wiley, 2018). Based in Calgary, Greg is a board member of the Canadian Society of Technical Analysts (CSTA) and the chairman of the CSTA Calgary chapter. He is an active member of both the CMT Association and the International Federation of Technical Analysts (IFTA). Learn More