Friday, January 4, 2013

Stock market update


The broad market jumped on Wednesday, Jan. 2., on relief from the (temporary) resolution of the U.S. fiscal situation.  Major indices were at their highest levels in three months at the time of this writing. 

The market announced its intention with a massive 29:1 upside volume day on the NYSE the day before the “fiscal cliff” meeting in Congress and followed through the rest of this week.  The bottoming of a key intermediate-term weekly Kress cycle last week was also a major impetus in the lifting of the recent downside pressure on stocks.

Reviewing some of the stocks we examined in the Dec. 12, 2012 blog posting entitled “Some interesting charts,” we see that Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII, 43.67) has gained in the last three weeks, albeit at a sluggish pace compared to some of the others.  Remember, if you own this stock be sure to use a conservative stop loss at all times.

Hyatt Hotels (H, 39.50) finally emerged from its long-standing consolidation pattern as anticipated and has since gained nearly $3/share since our last review.  Take some profit if you’re long this stock and raise stops to a confortable level to protect the remainder of your position.

IHS Inc. (IHS, 98.66) was also a winner in the latest broad market rally.  Take some profit if you’re long and raise the stop loss.

ING Groep N.S. ADS (ING, 9.63) has barely made any progress since our last review, though it has just registered a new quarterly high.  Our assessment of this stock’s potential from the Dec. 12 posting remains unchanged.

Of the four stocks we reviewed on Dec. 12, INVESCO Ltd. (IVZ, 27.39) looks like a runaway momentum leader and is at a new 52-week high as of this writing.  Take some profit and raise stops on any long positions.


Elsehwere the major indices are in the process of testing major resistance levels from last year, which could mean a brief period of consolidation lies ahead in the near term.

[For the complete 2013 Kress cycle forecast for the U.S. stock market, subscribe to the Momentum Strategies Report at the link below.]

No comments: