We mentioned last week that the markets were vulnerable to a shakeout after the near-vertical rise from the past two weeks, and shake out they did. After news of Osama Bin Laden's death induced a gap higher on Monday, the markets reversed and headed lower all week. Friday did see a gap higher following a better-than-expected jobs report, but the markets eventually gave up a large part of those gains. Commodities were hit hard this week too, as silver and oil were decimated. Part of our concern the...

Commentary: After last week's bear trap was set, the market slowly applied pressure to the bears by logging four straight positive days to close out the week. When the past two weeks are taken into account, the general markets have really been positive almost every single day and have pushed to multiyear highs. There can’t be any doubt that the markets have broken out of their prior bases and other than the low volume, the markets are showing impressive strength. The markets are already overbought...

Tickers in this Article: ANF, ASNA, BBBY, BKE, JOSB, ROST, TJX

With the markets running to new highs earlier this week, it’s no surprise that many individual stocks are also moving higher. When scanning the list of stocks that have been acting well, one group has been at the forefront for weeks now. The retail group has had some great breakouts in many individual stocks such as TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX ), Buckle (NYSE:BKE) and Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq:BBBY). Following their lead...

Tickers in this Article: DOV, FISV, IDT, TIF

One of the benefits to reviewing hundreds of stock charts each night is that I can often see patterns developing across multiple charts that provide insight into where the markets are. One of the current themes I am seeing develop across multiple sectors is that many stocks are close to testing the top of their current bases. This is interesting because the major index ETFs are lagging this price action. This could be due to certain component...