Paul Shread

Stocks rebounded Tuesday as the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and maintained its neutral bias. The SEC got a new chief – William Donaldson, former NYSE chairman and co-founder of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. The Nasdaq gained 23 to 1390, the S&P 500 recouped 12 to 904, and the Dow rose 100 to 8574. […]

The Dow (first chart below) found support at a nice rising trendline this morning. That line can be found at roughly 8475 for tomorrow. Resistance is 8650 and 8750-8800. The S&P (second chart) faces strong resistance at 915 and 925, and has strong support at 880-885. The Nasdaq (third chart) has support at 1361-1367 and […]

Valuation concerns, weak retail sales and UAL’s bankruptcy filing sent stocks to steep losses on Monday. Traders were also disappointed in the nomination of CSX CEO John Snow as treasury secretary. The Nasdaq plunged 55 to 1367, the S&P 500 dropped 20 to 892, and the Dow fell 172 to 8473. Volume rose slightly to […]

The Dow (first chart) and S&P (second chart) are closing in on potential support levels at 8450 and 878. Below that, the Dow could find support at 8338, the .382 retrace off the October lows. The S&P’s .382 retrace level is 883, which also lines up nicely with the index’s 50-day moving average. To the […]

Traders looked past a much weaker than expected jobs report in the hope that the resignation of top U.S. economic officials will get the economy back on track. Stocks opened sharply lower on the jobs report, but then began a recovery on news of the resignations of Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and White House Economic […]

With stochastics oversold and sentiment showing some fear, today’s bounce did not come as a surprise, particularly with an equity-only put-call ratio reading hovering around 1.0 for much of the morning (a close around that level would have been even better). The critical resistance levels remain the same: 1426 (1431) and 1446-1449 on the Nasdaq […]

Investors were in a selling mood on Thursday, as they ignored better than expected earnings news from Merck and AMD and a drop in jobless claims and focused instead on disappointing November retail sales. The Nasdaq fell 19 to 1410, the S&P 500 lost 11 to 906, and the Dow dropped 114 to 8623. Volume […]

The Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 (first two charts below) both had bearish engulfing candlesticks today, gapping above yesterday’s candlesticks and then closing below them, suggesting the possibility for more downside tomorrow. However, stochastics on both charts are closing in on oversold levels, so the downside may be limited for now. 1050 on the NDX is […]

The Nasdaq 100 (first chart below) put in an imperfect island reversal today – essentially stranding investors who bought in the eight trading days since the November 21 gap up – a reversal that gives the index downside potential to 1020 or lower. The index would first have to break 1050 support, however. Resistance is […]

A warning from Disney sent stocks lower on Wednesday, but positive comments from Microsoft nearly rescued the market by the close. A report that UN inspectors had found Iraqi armaments containing mustard agent undercut the late rally. The Nasdaq fell 18 to 1430, the S&P 500 slipped 3 to 917, and the Dow gave back […]

The Nasdaq (first chart below) is closing in on major support in the 1420-1426 area, and with a high equity-only put-call ratio today (.83 at the close), that might be a good place to look for a bounce. 1446 is first support, and 1475 is resistance. The Dow and S&P (charts 2-5) cut through a […]

Lukewarm outlooks from Nokia and AOL hammered stocks on Tuesday, as did weak auto sales and news that Merrill Lynch is reducing its exposure to stocks. The Nasdaq fell 35 to 1448, the S&P 500 lost 13 to 920, and the Dow dropped 119 to 8742. Volume declined to 1.46 billion shares on the NYSE, […]