Jobless claims rose by 4,000 for a second week to reach 372,000 in the period ended Aug. 18. Unemployment has been above 8 percent since February 2009 – – the longest stretch in the post-World War II era. Last week I drew attention to the loss of momentum on the U.S. Jobless Claims data. There […]
Low volatility periods are usually followed by high volatility and vice versa. Strong agricultural commodity prices are taking a breather but looks like trends are not over. Short-term sideways consolidations and low volatility ranges suggest upward breakouts and continuations. Soy Meal is one of the agricultural commodity that has been consolidating over the past one […]
Metals have been one of the exciting areas as we got closer to the end of this week. Precious metals moved higher and challenged important resistances. First, we saw a major breakout on Platinum followed by Palladium. Low volatility range breakouts are usually very powerful and are followed by strong moves. While a surge in volatility can […]
Here is an update on major currency pairs including U.S. dollar index, GBP/USD, EUR/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CAD and USD/CHF. CURRENCIES (PDF Document) Highlights: U.S. dollar index continues to hold above its intermediate-term trend. Best intermediate-term trading opportunity will present itself on GBP/USD. AUD/USD & NZD/USD might have another leg up. USD/JPY might be forming a major […]
Will Coffee price reverse its decade-long uptrend or is this another major medium-term low? We are looking for an answer to this question. I attached two charts of Coffee price, one with a long-term view and the other with a medium-term. Coffee is testing the lower boundary of its 10 year-long upward trend channel. A break […]
Yesterday’s data on housing and unemployment supported my view on weakening trends on both economic indicators. It is important to note that we are getting closer to a major long-term resistance on the housing starts data. Since 1966, 850,000 level has been a major support. During the latest downturn, hosing starts fell below this level. […]
McDonald’s was one of the first stocks that entered a major uptrend after breaking out of a massive symmetrical triangle. Breakout from a widely recognized chart pattern (symmetrical triangle) resulted in a 3 year-long uptrend. McDonald’s is now forming another popular technical chart formation; head and shoulder top. Head and shoulder patterns are not confirmed until price breaks down the […]
On the 4th of July I analyzed the feeder and live cattle charts from a long-term perspective. Both commodities had perfect breakouts from their long-term consolidation ranges and formed consistent uptrends. http://techcharts.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/feeder-cattle-live-cattle/ Over the past few weeks the medium-term uptrend on feeder cattle has reversed after it completed a double top chart pattern and broke down […]
Thomas Bulkowski (author of encyclopedia of Chart Patterns) defines an ascending broadening wedge as a reversal chart pattern. An ascending broadening wedge has two upward sloping trend lines; the top one has a slightly steeper slope than the bottom one. Together, the two trend lines spread out over time but both slope upward. Once prices pierce the bottom […]
After a long break let me start with updating the latest economic data on housing and unemployment. I think these are the two most important economic data that we should be watching closely over the next few months. Housing because it is the latest bubble that burst and it was the cause of the global financial turmoil. […]
