Technical Analysis of Stock Trends

Busy, busy, busy…bought Platinum, lifted gold, silver hedges for personal accounts

Posted on Dec 16, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

There is every possibility that this could be a flag in PGM which could augur another leg down in platinum and the metals.  But, ever adventurous we lifted our gold and silver hedges and bought platinum.

Busy, busy, busy, as Kurt Vonnegut’s bokononists would say.

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Buy F.

Posted on Dec 16, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

These are buy signals in Ford.  We know that fundamental analysts have said that Ford is inured in such debt and fundamental balance sheet garbage that it can’t survive.  Why is it then that the market keeps saying buy Ford?  Are all those traders stupid?  Or is that fundamental analyst stupid?

We would be stupid if we didn’t put a stop on this increase in commitment.

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Change of pattern in the Dow

Posted on Dec 16, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

Since July the Industrials have exhibited the wave pattern we have called “surge, drift and flush”.  This has been very descriptive, and useful.

Now the pattern appears to have changed.  The present pattern developing after the last surge has passed beyond drift into an uncertainty pattern perhaps better described as a rectangle.  Except that it is very unruly with some broadening aspects.  And daily range has shrunk noticeably.  This shrinkage, or coiling volatility will soon beget explosive volatility.

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Consequences of breaking of long term trendlines

Posted on Dec 13, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

The Consequences of Broken Long Term Trendlines

As if investors didn’t have enough to worry about for the holidays here is one more concern.

In general it is our practice to respond to events in the market, rather than trying to anticipate them.  This may be looked at as letting the market dictate what should be done, rather than dictating to the market (a notoriously stubborn and unreliable conversationalist).

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Putnam’s stocks for a New Year’s bounce: BSX, BCO C, LLY, IDTI, KBH, LVLT, MOH, NYT, WEN

Posted on Dec 11, 2009 by WHC Bassetti.

The legendary George Putnam publishes a Christmas list of stocks he expects to bounce around the New Year as tax selling lets up and allows the stocks to seek their normal level.  Mark Hulbert talks about this list at:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ten-stocks-that-can-bounce-in-2010-2009-12-08

Just to keep ourselves from doing something destructive like ill-considered hedges or anticipating the market (an idle mind is the devil’s workshop — didn’t your mother ever tell you that?) we looked at their charts.  Here they are with some comments.

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