Technical Picture - Support Holds

The Dow and Nasdaq slipped a touch below their May lows, but the S&P as depicted above did not confirm, allowing for some corrective action into midday. That was followed by a retracement with the Nasdaq slipping below the morning lows, but not confirmed by either the Dow or the S&P, leading to a late day rally into the close. Use Fibonacci retracement levels from Thursday's high to today's low as a guide.

The weekly chart pf the $USD above shows that the sharp thrust from the 2009 lows is coming into resistance in the$90.00 range.

The daily chart below shows that the BO of the ascending triangle is having trouble with follow through. Also note the negative divergence of the RSI to higher prices.

GLD tested and breached 52 week highs, but failed to hold. The second test rarely succeeds (turtle soup), but the third test often does. Keep this one on the radar.

Day Trades:

AMZN - target reduced at Bofa-Merrill based on strong $USD. Yesterday's close was weak, the Bofa comments pushed it over the edge for a fast swoon.


GLD etf was going to test highs after yesterday's WRB. Find a gold stock with a clean base and wait for an opportunity. ABX - yesterday's highs held as support on the open. As price formed a triangle on 1 minute, I put in a buy stop order. I was long and short throughout the session as depicted below.

Technical Picture - Bulls Defend Support

Unfavorable data (Initial Claims 496k vs. 460k consensus; Continuous Claims 4617k vs. 4570k consensus) set the stage for the early slide. But no follow through developed as buyers stepped in to defend the support zone.

Dollar weakness also contributed to strength in Gold and commodities. I'm expecting the greenback to continue to consolidate, gently moving towards its trendline.


The 15 minute chart of CLF above is a good example of buying the 2nd test of support. Point A was a long entry last week. Point B was the first test of support of the solid base which formed a point A. Today's opening breach of support (point C) triggered some shorts, but the snap back led to short covering which propelled the stock in a decisive move back up to PDH.

I like to fade the second test of support/resistance (turtle soup setup). The third test is usually the BO.

Technical Picture - Markets Bounce Back

Broad based buying brought back stocks after yesterday's losses.


AMZN came within 15 cents of the December low and bounced. Before attempting to catch a falling knife, we wait for a base to form. The daily pivot S1 held as support and we entered long off of the 5 min. timeframe. Closed the day trade at R1 and hanging on to swing trade with BE stop.



HCPG had many similar setups with lots of triggers.