The Markets
A brief, early look at the charts today.
Stock indexes are holding up well after the sharp dip that started the week.
Information about China’s newly released Deepseek AI solution continues flowing rapidly, as does the debate about its utility, security, and potential effects on other AI solutions providers and their suppliers (software and hardware).
Outside of that, the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged, and earnings results are mixed.
META beat earnings but has given back early gains.
MSFT disappointed the street with stormy cloud service results.
TSLA didn’t have exciting results, but Elon was excited about the future.
So far this year, major stock indexes and all but one SP Sector are in positive territory. Financials XLF, Materials XLB, and Healthcare XLV are the top three performers. Technology XLK is the only loser.
YTD Performance
Let’s go to the rest of the charts for an early edition Thursday Market Update.
The Charts
SPY is consolidating Monday’s bounce off the 21-day MA. Earnings reports were expected to have a big impact, but the price action remained contained for the last two days. The moving averages are all below price, though the 8/21/50 are mostly flat. So, bullish momentum is technically present, but it’s not especially strong.
The trendline and pivot highs remain overhead for potential resistance.
QQQ is pushing its 8-day MA higher but has been unable to get back above. The technology weakness (see XLK YTD performance above) is having an effect, keeping the NASDAQ in this consolidation range.
IWM is, after a brief dip, repeating Monday’s scenario — Testing the 50-day MA, not much change in the overall chart, $230+ is still the key to more upside.
DIA is still the leader. It remains closest to new highs, dips the least, and has good momentum, as shown by the upward slope of the 8 and 21-day MAs.
TLT keeps tapping pivot resistance. More attempts should ultimately lead to a break higher. However, the longer it takes, the closer the declining 50-day MA gets, adding to the resistance.
DXY is quiet and range-bound. Perhaps this is rest before more downward action.
BTCUSD is climbing in the upper half of the range. Taking its time.
The Trade
The markets have been very active, with news, earnings, and increased volatility providing opportunities for nimble, active traders.
The daily charts, though, feel pretty boring. Low-risk buys for longer-term swing trades have been hard to come by. And there have been few changes or technical developments in the charts, making the updates challenging to write (and read, I’m sure).
But the market will do what the market will do. Wishing for change or excitement is a fruitless endeavor. We’ll take it as it comes and see how February begins.
On the bright side, the timing is good for a few days away. There will not be a Weekly Chart thread on Saturday morning. But I will share some updates sporadically over the coming days.
Have a great weekend!
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