All the charts and calculations have shown today to be the day of all days. What does this mean? The market is at a major pivot point on this Tuesday, May 15th, 2012. If the market is able to hold up, investors would experience a one to two week neutral to higher move. If the markets break lower today, down side is likely until the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) hits $129.00. As of now, the markets are squeaking out a slight gain. The SPY is trading at $134.68 +0.55…

It is always important for traders to follow the leading stocks as an indication of where the markets may trade in the future. Generally, when the leading stocks trade higher the overall stock market indexes will trade higher. When traders talk about leading stocks they will usually talk about stocks such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), and .Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN). While these stocks are all very important and often lead the…

Today, is options expiration Friday. This trading week is a time when the markets will trade all over the map. There will usually be a lot of game playing in many of the popular stocks by the institutional traders. Often leading stocks such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc (NASDAQ:GMCR), Netflix Inc (NYSE:NFLX), First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) and others will be extremely volatile throughout the week.



Remember, this is the time to be a…

The markets are taking a pounding today as fears from Europe reemerge. Yields in Spain have spiked dramatically as a bond auction saw weak demand. Just yesterday, I wrote an article about the downside potential nailing this drop. This was a perfect prediction based on trend line analysis. In this article, I discussed how the markets kept breaking their 52 week highs by $0.50 on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY), then selling sharply. The downside target I gave was $139.50 - $139.75.…

This morning, most of the leading stocks in the technology sector are declining lower. Even the mighty Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trading lower by $5.44 to 623.90 a share. Other tech leaders such as Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) are all coming under early selling pressure.



The one tech stock that is bucking the early morning sell off is Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM). This leading stock is trading…

The markets are slowly selling off today. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) is trading at $141.15, -0.64 (-0.45%). This is coming on the heels of a solid rally yesterday, to start the week. The previous Monday also saw a rally as Ben Bernanke gave major hope for QE3.



The markets do have some intriguing symmetry to them. For instance, last Monday, the rally took out the previous SPY 52 week high by approximately $0.50. Yesterday, the SPY did the same thing again. Each time…

The markets are down once again, falling for the third day in a row. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) is trading at $139.28, -1.15 (-0.82%). This recent rally has been a monster, blasting the SPY from $120.00 in December to the recent 52 week high of $141.83. The move has seen little to no down days and has even pushed the retail investor into full on bullish mode.



While the pull back is solid today, the daily S&P 500 20 moving average is getting tagged. That level must…

The markets are floating flat on the trading day. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) is trading at $141.53, -0.08 (-0.06%). Yesterday, Ben Bernanke pumped the markets with talk of more QE (quantitative easing). This sent the QE addicted markets shooting higher like a junkie excited about a fix.



Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) hit a new all time high today of $614.91. This is one of the stronger players in the market today, along with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). These two stocks…

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ continue to push higher, even with weakness in many leading stocks. This push higher is a result of the market being drunk, euphoric over the continued major pop in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) . The leading technology stock is trading at $524.42, +14.96 (2.94%) and makes up a huge percentage of the PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (ETF) (NASDAQ:QQQ). Its weighting inside the NASDAQ 100 means it can carry the index higher itself.  To put it in even more of a crazy…

The Wednesday before options expiration is usually the most volatile trading session of the week. We call this trading day 'Whipsaw Wednesday' as the action will usually be very erratic. This is a time when the large institutional traders will try and shake out the small retail options traders that is playing the near term expiration. As it goes in life, the big fish will most often eat the little fish, it is no different in the stock market during the week of options…

The major stock indexes are finally declining lower. Since December 19, 2011 the markets have rallied higher. Lately, every intra-day pullback was being bought by investors and traders. Many people are now calling this a market top, however, one day does not make a trend. These market were severely overbought and extended, therefore, a pullback or decline was certainly overdue.



This coming Friday is also options expiration. There were many small retail investors…

On February 17, 2012, it will be options expiration. The days leading up to the actual expiration will usually make for a lot of volatility in many of the popular and highly traded stocks. Traders and investors must understand that this week is notorious for rumors and game playing by the large financial institutions. You see, it is the institutions that move market indexes and stocks, it is not the individual at home with an online account that cause the popular stocks to rally or…

The markets are rallying today on the back of China's official Purchasing Managers' Index. This economic number came in better than expected and has the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEAMEX:SPY) trading at $132.71, +1.39 (+1.06%). The markets are still stuck below the master resistance level of $133.30 on the SPY. This level represents major resistance on the markets.



Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported poor quarterly results yesterday, but it has done little to dampen the light…

The PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (ETF) (NASDAQ:QQQ) made a new 52 week high by $0.06 today. This minor high is also known as a classic double top. The technology index fell sharply off that level and is now trading near the lows of the day. The chart below shows the key support and resistance levels on an intra day basis. In addition, the chart shows the 20, 50 and 200 moving averages on a 10 minute time frame. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) reports earnings today after the market closes.…

Light volume is saving the day once more. After an ugly gap lower, the markets are floating back towards the flat line. This is classic behavior for a market without volume. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) is trading at $131.10, -0.63 (-0.48%).



Earnings continue this week with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) reporting Tuesday after the market close. This is highly anticipated after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported blockbuster results.  In addition, Friday, Wall Street gets…

The markets put in a key pivot top this week. The master $133.30 on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) was hit. This was the target for the end of the January move, prior to a pull back. Sure enough, the markets have started pulled back. Today, the S&P 500 is floating flat to slightly lower. Flat is normal on a Friday when volume dies out by 11AM ET.



Next week more downside should be seen. The key is to recognize the plethora of amazing news this week and the lack of upside…

The markets are hovering on the flat line today. This is what is called a pause or consolidation day. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEARCA:DIA) is trading at $120.13, -0.07 (-0.06%).  A pause or consolidation day tells pro traders that the market may be looking for more upside early next week. This type of pause day occurred on Tuesday, after the massive rally on Monday. It was a precursor to the even bigger rally yesterday of 500 points on the Dow Jones Industrial…

This afternoon, the highly followed NASDAQ Composite is trading slightly lower on the session. This decline in the tech heavy NASDAQ comes as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index are trading higher. It is important for traders to remember that the NASDAQ Composite traded higher by 80.0 points yesterday, therefore, today's small pullback is very common after such a large price move. Often, the major stock indexes will consolidate or pause before moving higher…