Technical Analysis of Stock Trends

Is that it? No. Not yet. But careful chart reading pays off.

Posted on Jan 15, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

The Dow has been down 7 days like, you know, like two or three times in 23 years.  (We forget the exact sttistic becuase it doesn’t interest us much.)  A careful look at the chart here will show that one of those times was the toboggan run to the panic sell off in October.  Back in the old days you could pretty much buy the close on the fifth day down and depend on making a quick buck.  These here is different times.

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Dow death struggle continues

Posted on Jan 13, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

Contrarians (traders), bottom fishers and congenital optimists –as well as those who fear that they might be left behind when the train leaves the station—are buying stocks.  And then, surprise, traders sell them.  So – stocks go up and down.  A death struggle is taking place between bears and these elements.  At the full moon (yes, the full moon!) bear forces have taken control.  How long they will maintain control is open to question.

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The score: -5523 to +3928

Posted on Jan 09, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

The  score as of January 2009:  -5523 to +3928

Buy and holders, and investors in feckless mutual funds and indices are down 5523 points from the top.  Or, -39%.

edwards-magee.com went short the market in January 2008 at 12603.  Score +3928 or 31%

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CVX, PFE, KO, AFL, JNJ, PEP, UTX, WMT, DUHDUH

Posted on Jan 07, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

Recently Mark Hulbert canvassed his best perfoming newsletters and compiled a list of stocks they were recommending in common.  It is above. We looked at it out of curiosity.  Like the cat –curiosity is our bete noir –chat noir?)  What we saw was a bunch of singularly uninspiring charts.  PFE Pfizer might be of some interest — but not because of the chart.  In general it may be said that these old warhorses have recovered somewhat, but the KO chart is probably best expressive of the group.  A rectangle.

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Turning analysis on its head and shoulders

Posted on Jan 02, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

Recently there has been a lot of talk that the formation in the Dow and S&P might be a head and shoulders. We think this is not a good interpretation.  Here is the S&P which shows that there was not a recovery from the nose (KIlroy) or head to establish a neckline.  The pertinence (or impertinence) of Kilroy is emphasized by the resemblance of the left side of this formation to a hand and fingers.

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