It was a mixed day for the major U.S. stock market indices. The S&P 500 Index traded in a tighter range, finishing the day lower by just 0.10%. It achieved an all-time intraday high earlier in the session.
All four major U.S. stock market indices currently have strongly bullish intermediate postures, according to the Market Forecast technical indicator. All four U.S. stock market indices also have “3 Green Arrows” signals and have bullish 10-40 weekly moving average crossovers.
The Russell 2000 and NASDAQ Composite are now trading above their rising 30 day moving averages, a bullish development for these near-term laggards.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.29%, but is still within a series of higher highs and higher lows.
The U.S. Dollar fell for the fourth straight day after producing its overbought cluster signal, but it still has a strongly bullish posture. Dollar weakness assisted in pushing commodities prices higher; oil was up 1.04% and gold was up 0.80%.
Despite closing higher today, crude oil now has a strongly bearish intermediate posture and is trading below its falling 30-day moving average. Gold is looking more robust currently than it has in previous months. It closed above its 30-day moving average for the first time since early January.
In a bit of an oddity, foreign developed market stocks fell by over 1% on the same day that foreign emerging markets stocks rose 0.55%.
With the exception of Energy, most sectors currently have bullish intermediate postures. Energy continues to have the strongest 3 month performance, but recent progress has stalled out tremendously and is the only sector below its 30 day moving average.
Strong trending sectors include: Real Estate, Materials, Industrials, Financials, and Communications.
Our trade application example featured selling a bear call spread on Marathon Petroleum (MPC) due to its bearish intermediate posture and its bearish Near-term divergence signal; weekly options are being used to avoid their upcoming earnings report.
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Stock Market Video – News, Analysis & Insights for April 6
Twitter: @BrandonVanZee and @Market_Scholars
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