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SMALL-CAP PARTICIPATION NARROWING

Chip Anderson

Chip Anderson

President, StockCharts.com

A good measure of market participation -- the number of stocks participating in upside price moves -- is the percentage of stocks above their 200-day moving average. DecisionPoint.com tracks this number on the major market indexes, and in this instance we are looking at this indicator for the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index.

Note how the indicator has been making lower highs for the last 18 months, even as the price index has made new all-time highs. This negative divergence is not necessarily fatal, but it does reflect how the price index is being supported by fewer and fewer stocks.

The price index can move higher because it is capitalization-weighted. This allows the larger-cap stocks in the index to carry it higher, while increasing numbers of smaller-cap stocks begin to fade. This is not healthy, and it is another piece of evidence that indicates that the cyclical bull market is probably near an end.

 

Chip Anderson
About the author: is the founder and president of StockCharts.com. He founded the company after working as a Windows developer and corporate consultant at Microsoft from 1987 to 1997. Since 1999, Chip has guided the growth and development of StockCharts.com into a trusted financial enterprise and highly-valued resource in the industry. In this blog, Chip shares his tips and tricks on how to maximize the tools and resources available at StockCharts.com, and provides updates about new features or additions to the site. Learn More