Thursday 3 March 2011

A Crash in Saudi Arabia, Arrogant Eurocrats and a Look at the Markets Part 2 - Seeking Alpha

In the wake of the big decline in Saudi Arabia's stock market, other stock markets also suffered a bad hair day. It would be easy to pin the blame for the stock market's recent decline on the problems in the Middle East, but bulls should perhaps be more concerned about a number of other facts. For one thing, there is the subtle internal technical deterioration as evidenced by many 'momo' stocks coming under pressure of late, i.e., the so-called "Teflon stocks" all of a sudden look somewhat less teflonesque. A similar point is made in a recent article by Michael Kahn at Barron's about the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As Kahn remarks:

"Despite its limited representation in a market of thousands of stocks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average nonetheless is an important barometer. Given the sheer dollar value of its 30 component issues, any cracks in its armor should not be ignored.

So when fully one fifth of Dow stocks sport technical failure we should take notice. Failure, in the lexicon of charting, is often used to describe a stock falling as it hits a key level such as resistance or the top of a pattern.

When a stock breaks out to the upside from resistance or a chart pattern it is usually a bullish sign. Demand overcomes supply and prices move higher – most of the time. However, failure to hold on to that breakout is the unusual case and that makes it a true newsworthy event for investors."

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