ChartSmarter Wednesday Game Plan 3/16/16

Markets are trying to reinvent themselves as for a second straight session for the most part they shrugged off crude’s 2% drop. The S&P 500 did record a doji candle Monday at a downward sloping 200 day SMA, and that type of candle often suggests a pause or possible change in trend. After a 200 handle advance from the double bottom 2/11 low that likelihood heightens. The “best” performing group Tuesday was technology which eked out an UNCH session, courtesy of a 2% jump in AAPL. Its chart is on the mend after a successful double bottom the weeks ending 8/28 and 1/29. The lagging sector of the day was healthcare which slipped 1.9%, not helped at all by the day VRX essentially putting in a 2/1 split Tuesday, but do not be expecting any additional stock certificates in the mail. The industry could very well be the target of regulators going forward, akin to the banks which have been bruised up the last few years. Select energy names continue to act well and Tuesday was no different with names like APC, HES, RICE and RRC all gaining ground today. We did see some respectable moves with names from the retail space like PLCE delivering on a solid earnings report up better than 8%. The stock traded extremely taut on a weekly basis with the last 3 weeks all CLOSING with just .28 of each other. It broke above a 70.00 cup base trigger, best viewed on the weekly chart in a base that began the week ending 5/8/15. The longer the base the better the success rate. We do know that consumers have been finicky and perhaps the fact that parents like to spoil their children went a long way on the bottom line this quarter.