S&P 500 Technical Analysis

A week ago in my "Technical Analysis" post on Sunday September 13, 2009 I have pointed to a bearish sentiment and overbought signals on majority of technical studies. However, in the same post I mentioned: "As a rule, when market comes to some overbought level it is stuck at this level for a couple of trading sessions and moves side-way before a decline." As you may see the history analysis helps in making a correct decision not rushing into a short trade even in situation when technical analysis is in favor of a correction. In one trading session, on Thursday September 15, 2009 the stock was back in the up-trend. On that day (September 15), all technical indicators on the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and DJI turned from bearish into bullish.

Now, by the end of this week we have a similar picture. Again, many of technical studies on the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and DJI charts point to overbought (short-term) levels and bearish sentiment. And again, I would recommend taking look through the history of these indexes. You should see that in the resistance (before a correction) we have a few sessions of sideway trading. In opposite an exit from a support is sharp and strong. This is not a 100% rule, yet, I would say that the odds of having a sideways trading in resistance are quite high.

The last two weeks’ rally up (from September 3, 2009) has push the stock market and indexes into overbought condition ( for a short term at least). A correction down would be healthy for the market. However, a possibility of sideway trading still exists and personally I would watch the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and DJI indexes for stronger bearish signals.

Right now the technical analysis applied to hourly charts shows following:

1. High volume surge on September 15-16, 2009 during the price advance (see big green MVO) suggests a possibility of reversal down.
2.  The RSI (Relative Strength Index) and Stochastics have dropped below 70 and 80 lines respectfully and both these indicators are in decline which is a bearish sign.
3.  The Advance/Decline Oscillator declines and is close to the center (zero) line. This could be considered as a bearish signal as well.
4. The MACD moves up, yet, this move is almost flat. Even this indicator is bullish, it’s not a strong signal and it could turn into bearish signal very easily.
5. The SBV Oscillator declines slowly which indicates bearishness, yet, it is still has high positive readings. It would be nice to see it dropping closer to zero line before considering it as a strong bearish signal.
6.  McClellan Oscillator is neutral on the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 indexes - it moves flat at a zero line. However, McClellan Oscillator applied to the DJI index is positive (above zero line and in flat move).
   

The S&P 500 Chart with elements of technical analysis.