Note: Click on HOME for updated postings. This technical analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts and other technical indicators including volume, moving averages and oscillators. Please conduct your own chart analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years. The author of this article may hold long or short positions in the featured stock or index.
The hammer candlestick line is a reversal indicator. In this case, there is an increased probability that the six day near-term downtrend for DJIA will end. The price action for the hammer is a graphical representation of the index attempting to hold support at the 13,000 level which is also near the 200-day moving average. Follow the price action the next day which will confirm or nullify the hammer. A confirmed break below 13,000 would be a bad omen for the Dow. I use a time and percentage filter for the confirmation: 2% break that holds for two trading days. There is flexibility with this trading rule. As a matter of fact, there is flexibility with most trading rules in technical analysis.
Note: Click on HOME for updated postings. This technical analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts and other technical indicators including volume, moving averages and oscillators. Please conduct your own chart analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years. The author of this article may hold long or short positions in the featured stock or index.
The near-term trend is up for the 10-year note which represents the movement of capital from the relative safety of the U.S. Treasury to other asset classes. The S&P 500 Index at 1,446 is above resistance levels of 1,425 and 1,440 with the financial sector being a big winner. There is hope that the U.S. will not drive over the so-called fiscal cliff as politicians do what they do best: talk with no action. But hope will not sustain the advance in stocks and the U.S. Treasury for much longer. Some sort of resolution to the fiscal mess would see the yield breakout above resistance of 1.90% and a continuation of the near-term uptrend in major U.S. stock indexes. But and there is always a but when you trade online, the major trend is still down for the U.S. Treasury and the intermediate trend is sideways.
For the TSX Index (weighted to oil and material stocks) it would take a confirmed resolution of the fiscal cliff and some good economic numbers out of China to move this Canadian index. And even this may not do the job as caution is the prevailing mood as we end 2012 and will be the prevailing mood as we enter 2013. It has been a dismal three year performance for the TSX Index relative to the U.S. Indexes.
Note: Click on HOME for updated postings. This technical analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts and other technical indicators including volume, moving averages and oscillators. Please conduct your own chart analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years. The author of this article may hold long or short positions in the featured stock or index.
The resistance level of 12,200 identified on the last chart of the TSX Index is now the support level. The reversal of roles is an important concept in technical analysis.
Note: Click on HOME for updated postings. This technical analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts and other technical indicators including volume, moving averages and oscillators. Please conduct your own chart analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years. The author of this article may hold long or short positions in the featured stock or index.
Candlestick chart analysis for the S&P 500 Index showing a shooting star candlestick and a hammer. This is a graphical representation of the index struggling to break resistance at the 1,425 resistance zone.
On a daily chart, you can see the 1,425 resistance zone in addition to the next near-term resistance level of 1,440.
A confirmed break above 1,440 would setup the S&P 500 Index for a test of major resistance at 1,470.
Note: Click on HOME for updated postings. This technical analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts and other technical indicators including volume, moving averages and oscillators. Please conduct your own chart analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years. The author of this article may hold long or short positions in the featured stock or index.
Note: Click on HOME for updated postings. This technical analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts and other technical indicators including volume, moving averages and oscillators. Please conduct your own chart analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years. The author of this article may hold long or short positions in the featured stock or index.
What can I prognosticate from the above chart? As I have said in the past, it is not a pretty picture for the TSX Index: a gain this year of 0% compared to a gain of 12% for the S&P 500 Index. And a three year gain of 6.7% for the TSX Index compared to gain of 28.9% for the S&P 500 Index.
If the TSX Index can break resistance of 12,200 then it moves into the old trading range with resistance at 12,500. A resolution of the so-called fiscal cliff would be the fundamental news to give a lift for the TSX as traders would move into some of the risk-on trades: oil and materials. But, you have the Eurozone slipping into a recession, tepid growth in the BRIC countries, Iran, and crude price differentials for Canadian producers. And these are just some of the known knowns.
The experts will give you their expert projections for the major indexes. In the end, all you can do is follow the charts when you trade online. Use tight stops on any breakout positions. And, a comfortable cash position will let you have a comfortable sleep. On Friday, the U.S.employment report will move the markets.
Note: The above chart analysis is valid as of the publication date. To review current charts click on Home or perform a search. This technical analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts. Please conduct your own chart analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years. The author of this article may hold long or short positions in the featured stock or index.
The above charts provide a long-term perspective for gold. The first chart shows the pricing for SPDR Gold ETF (ticker:GLD) for the period 2005 to 2012 in the logarithmic scale. The second smaller chart extends the date range from 1974 to 2012 and shows the actual price of gold in U.S. dollars in the linear scale.
There are two generally accepted principles in technical analysis: (1) individual stocks and broad indexes move in trends, and (2) the trend will continue until there is evidence to the contrary. How is this relevant for gold? The long-term trend for gold is up and is currently trading in a major and intermediate lateral trading band. And the near-term trend is down. Given the assumption that the long-term uptrend will continue for gold, a breakout above resistance of 174 and 185 (ticker:GLD) would confirm the continuation of the long-term uptrend. On the contrary, a break below support of 150 (ticker:GLD) would raise a red flag for the continuation of the uptrend.
Significant dates in modern gold history:
August, 1971: Then-U.S. President Richard Nixon takes the U.S. dollar off the gold standard, which had been in place with minor modifications since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 fixed the conversion rate for one Troy ounce of gold at $35 (U.S.).
March, 1973: Most major countries adopt floating-exchange-rate system.
January, 1980: Gold hits record high of $850 an ounce.
August, 1999: Gold falls to a low of $251.70.
November, 2004: SPDR Gold Shares ETF launched
November, 2005: Spot gold breaches $500 for the first time since December 1987.
May, 2006: Gold prices peak at $730 an ounce.
November, 2007: Spot gold hits a 28-year high of $845.40 an ounce.
March, 2008: Benchmark gold contract trades over $1,000 for the first time in U.S. futures market.
September, 2008: Spot gold rises by nearly $90 an ounce, a record one-day gain.
September, 2010: Gold prices reach $1,300 an ounce.
September, 2011: Gold prices hit a high of $1,895 USD/oz
Note: The above chart analysis is valid as of the publication date. To review current charts click on Home or perform a search. This technical analysis is for educational purposes so you can learn to trade online using candlestick charts. Please conduct your own chart analysis or consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. The chart snippets are from BigCharts.com which I recommend and have used for fifteen years. The author of this article may hold long or short positions in the featured stock or index.
