The major stock indexes started the morning trading sharply higher. At 10:00 am EST the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average(NYSE:DIA) traded as high as $116.97 a share. Since that high pivot the major stock indexes have been slowly declining throughout the session. The highly traded and followed DIA is now trading lower by 0.09 cents to $115.26 a share. The SPDR S&P 500 Index Trust(NYSE:SPY) and Powershares QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) have also declined sharply this afternoon reversing…
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Added by Bryan Leighton on August 31, 2011 at 3:41pm —
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The markets are floating higher on the day. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) is trading at $122.86, +1.18 (+0.97%). The ADP Private Sector Employment numbers were released this morning at 8:15am ET. They came in with a gain of 91,000. This number was solid and the markets liked it. However, all eyes are on the Federal Reserve for their next meeting on September 21st and 22nd. Ben Bernanke made it clear last week at Jackson Hole that there was likely new easing coming to the United States, in…
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Added by Bryan Leighton on August 31, 2011 at 1:22pm —
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The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF(NYSE:GDXJ) is trading higher by 0.06 cents to $37.41 a share. The popular ETF of the smaller gold mining stocks has rallied sharply higher since August 5, 2011 when it traded as low as $31.62 a share. Traders can watch for intra-day support around the $36.85 level. Should the GDXJ rally or trade higher on the session the next important intra-day resistance level is around the $38.00 area. The daily chart for the GDXJ remains in good technical shape by…
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Added by Bryan Leighton on August 31, 2011 at 11:04am —
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The stock markets have rallied higher over the past week for several reasons. The first and most important reason for the stock market rally has been the comments of the Federal Reserve. Since the Jackson Hole speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke the stock markets have rallied higher on expectations of a September quantitative easing.
Nearly every investor is expecting the Federal Reserve to begin another round of quantitative easing. It is important for all traders… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 31, 2011 at 10:20am —
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Most traders do not put all the pieces of the puzzle together when learning and using technical analysis. Let's talk about topping and bottoming tails. Simply put, a bottoming tail is a bullish signal and a topping tail is bearish. A bottoming tail MUST occur at the lows of a chart. This means that no point on the chart in recent history can be lower. Next, the tail must be substantial, not just a little thing barely seen by the eye. Additionally, the close of the candle must be in the… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 30, 2011 at 2:49pm —
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All day traders should know this, the week leading into options expiration is an extremely tough period to trade. This is a time when the large institutional trading desks will play a lot games with the small retail options traders. Take a look at the major stock indexes during an options expiration week on any intra-day time frame, you will see a pattern that looks like the Wasatch Mountains. The intra-day swings can make any trader sea sick if they did not take a dose of Dramamine… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 30, 2011 at 10:27am —
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The markets are nearing a key resistance level. This should be short term resistance but probably not the end of the move up. The level on the S&P 500 is 1207. On the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) the level coincides perfectly with $121.20. This level happens to be the pivot high from August 17th, 2011. The likely scenario is a stall-out here for a day or two, then a push through it to the $124.00 to $126.00 area. Once this next level it achieved, look for a significant pull back in…
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Added by Bryan Leighton on August 29, 2011 at 2:05pm —
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The bank stocks have finally started to participate in the market rally. This first started with Warren Buffett investing $5 billion in Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) last week. Logic dictates the President of the United States asked Buffett to give the markets a boost of confidence. In addition, Buffett gets a 6% yearly dividend from the preferred shares and the option to buy 700 million shares of Bank of America at $7.14. This is a sweet deal but to be expected from a seasoned capitalist…
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Added by Bryan Leighton on August 29, 2011 at 11:26am —
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The markets are sharply higher again today. A mega reversal took place on Friday and solidified choppy upside through the Labor Day holiday weekend. The markets have now had three higher pivot lows since the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) hit the low of $110.27 on August 9th, 2011. These higher lows continue to tell intelligent traders and investors that the market has a little more upside for the next week or two. A possible upside target on the SPY would be $124.00 - $126.00. In that range,…
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Added by Bryan Leighton on August 29, 2011 at 10:29am —
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All of the major stock indexes have been extremely volatile since the May 2, 2011 high on the S&P 500 Index. Most leading stocks continue to trade below their daily chart 50 and 200 moving averages. While many stocks continue to struggle, there is one sector that has held up very well and continues to signal strength. The group of stocks that remain very strong at this time is the utility sector. In this report, we shall examine three different leading utility stocks that continue to… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 29, 2011 at 9:31am —
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This morning, the Bernank told the market exactly what they had already expected, no QE-3 right now. He did hint that it is possible in September, however, he is keeping the market guessing. The Federal Reserve has lost a lot of credibility over the past five years and another quantitative easing might have put the nail in the coffin for the central bank.
The markets immediately flushed lower after the speech, since then it has bounced higher off the morning lows. At this… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 26, 2011 at 11:00am —
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Traders and investors are waiting for the Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke to speak this morning at 10:00 am EST. This could be one of the most highly anticipated speeches of the year. The major stock market indexes have been under heavy selling pressure all morning ahead the speech, therefore, this tells us that the investing public is betting that the market will be weak today. Now, by some chance the market begins to rally after the speech by Chairman Bernanke it would be… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 26, 2011 at 10:17am —
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Anyone who has ever traded these markets for any considerable amount of time knows that the first hour to ninety minutes of the day is the best part of the day. This is a time period when there is volume in the market. Day traders can actually trade off of good support and resistance level. Active markets are always the best markets for trading.
If you have ever looked at an intra-day chart of a stock or index you will notice that the trading volume declines dramatically after… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 25, 2011 at 3:57pm —
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Ever wonder why stocks, commodities and currencies move prior to news? Many times it seems like key big boys, money managers and institutions got word ahead of the average investor. The fact is, they do. I am calling for a direct investigation into the latest gold collapse that saw the precious metal drop from over $1,900 to $1,700 per ounce. After a two day massive drop, the CME raised the margin requirements on gold.
While I gave out the short call on gold. I still think an…
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Added by Bryan Leighton on August 25, 2011 at 2:06pm —
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The markets continue to be in a wild phase. Just this morning, Warren Buffet took a $5 billion stake in Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC). This deal is a sweet deal for him but caution flags must go up. The last time the Oracle of Omaha took a stake in a bank it was Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) during the 2008 credit crisis. Rumor has it he was asked to do it by the President of the United States in order to restore calm and confidence to the markets. In addition, any more panic could have…
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Added by Bryan Leighton on August 25, 2011 at 12:23pm —
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The major stock indexes have declined faster than they rallied after the announcement of the Bank of America deal with angel investor Warren Buffett. At first, many traders and investors thought this was good news, now it is really turning out to be a negative report for the investing public. This shows the world that perhaps even the banks in the United States may need more capital. All of the leading financial stocks have faded from their gap higher open. Stocks such as J.P. Morgan… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 25, 2011 at 11:00am —
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This morning, the stock market is in jubilee mode over the multi-billion dollar investment in Bank of America Corp.(NYSE:BAC) by Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett. Once again, the man that has profited the most from government bailout's is coming to the rescue of another failing financial institution. This investment tells us that this economy is really in trouble and more government bailouts may be needed again.
Here are a few key reasons that tell us that this deal is… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 25, 2011 at 10:35am —
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Once again, it goes to show you how the market always knows the truth. Bank Of America Corp.(NYSE:BAC) gets Warren Buffet as an investor this morning. This investment that was made public around 9:10 am EST, it is causing a massive short squeeze in the Bank of America stock. BAC stock is trading higher by more than $1.50 to $8.55 a share. Traders can watch for other financial stocks to trade higher in sympathy to the BAC stock. Other leading stocks that could trade higher this morning… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 25, 2011 at 9:46am —
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Anyone one that knows anything about the ebb and flow of the markets knows that gold was severely overbought. Therefore, it is simply time for gold to pullback or even have a meaningful correction at this time. After all, gold has outperformed every asset class over the past 10 years. In 2001, gold was trading around $255.00 an ounce. Earlier this week, gold traded as high as $1917.90 and ounce before pulling back. This afternoon gold is declining lower by $97.00 to $1764.00 an ounce. It… Continue
Added by Bryan Leighton on August 24, 2011 at 4:01pm —
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Rotation of money is one of the key principles that every trader must understand. When any market comes off a big fall, the first stocks to bounce are large caps. This is because they are the safest and investors are still scared, thus risk adverse. Once the large caps shoot up dramatically, money rotates to mid cap stocks and finally to small caps. Yesterday the market staged an impressive rally. Large and mid cap stocks surged higher. For the most part, small cap high risk plays stayed at…
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Added by Bryan Leighton on August 24, 2011 at 1:45pm —
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