ChartWatchers

PLATES STILL SHIFTING

Chip Anderson

Chip Anderson

President, StockCharts.com

We recently featured the S&P 500 Large Cap vs. Russell 2000 Small Cap ratio surrogate using the ETFs SPY:IWM; with the implication that the tectonic plates were shifting beneath the markets, with large caps slowly, but surely coming back to favor at the expense. This was simply the thesis based on "looking through" out indicators; however, last week provided clear confirmation that indeed - a major breakout had taken place on the daily as well as the weekly and monthly charts. Obviously, this has major implications for our trading strategy; we are increasingly likely to trade the Pfizer's (PFE) or Cisco's (CSCO) or General Electric's (GE) of the world rather than small stocks.



Analyzing the SPY:IWM daily chart once again and keeping it rather simple; we find prices bottomed in April-2006, with the "right shoulder" of a larger "head & shoulders" bottoming formation breaking out above the major 500-day moving average resistance level, and then above neckline resistance. Moreover, the stochastic pattern is supportive of further gains. This breakout could not be cleaner... nor clearer; hence our confidence level is quite high that rotation in favor of large caps will come from the small cap area. Keeping it simple again; one must trade accordingly.

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