I'm not real happy with the way the market acted last week. Each week, I try to step back and look at which way the market trended -- and this week wasn't very good. I use BarChart to find my analytics and here's how they went this past week.

Value Line Index - 1,700 stocks, so its broader than just the Dow 30 or S&P 500

• The index was actually flat and unchanged for the week
• BarChart technical indicators - 32% sell with only 3 buys, 3 holds and 7 sells
• Index trending below its 20 and 50 day moving average but still above its 100 DMA

BarChart Market Momentum - 6000 stocks - percentage of stocks trading above its Daily Moving Average - overall very weak

• 20 DMA -- only 47.44% above
• 50 DMA -- only 44.40% above
• 100DMA -- 64.49% above

Ratio of stocks hitting new highs to new lows for various periods -- 1.0+ bullish, 1.0 neutral, under .99 bearish -- bearish this week

• 20 day new high/new low ratio -- 242/876 = .28
• 65 day new high/new low ratio -- 113/427 = .26
• 100 day new high/new low ratio -- 106/223 = .48

Summary - Market didn't perform in a positive manner and the 3 previous weeks poor performance caught up with the numbers -- Middle East credit crisis could cause concern. Please act defensively.

 

Wall Street Survivor results - Those who post stock recommendations to Top Stocks have a little friendly competition going on Wall Street Survivor, and month to date Anthony Mirhaydari is the leader with a 30.37% return. That's way ahead of my month to date return of 7.35% but I still managed to beat the market's 5.34% return. I sold Sierra Wireless (SWIR) because it failed to maintain price momentum above its 50 day moving average. I won't add a position today until I see how the market digests this Middle East credit crisis.

 

Disclosure: I do not hold any positions in the stocks I recommend on Top Stocks

 

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes about financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com