Banks Brimming:
Banks, although not the most exciting space, have continued to make nice progress. The daily chart below of the XLF shows nice action since the bullish piercing line candle on Monday. The fund is now right at a 49.27 double bottom breakout pivot and may take a temporary pause at the very round 50 figure. Like most other sectors it traded back into the election gap from early last November and looks ready to head higher once again. The WEEKLY chart, heading into Friday is showing a bullish engulfing candle up 5%, which would be its third-best gain since the week ending 11/3/23 jumped 7%. The MONTHLY chart, shows a break above a cup base pivot that traded between the round 30-40 number from the start of 2022 to the beginning of 2024. Of course, the big names started REPORTING and JPM is moving above its cup base pivot of 253.10, from the intraday high on 11/20’s bearish shooting star candle (Thursday’s candle was not too convincing with a spinning top). Top-holding BRKB is moving its way back above its 50-day SMA and that could go a long way to giving the overall group power to venture upward. It has been a drag on the fund as seen on the ratio chart against the XLF, but Tuesday completed a bullish morning star and is a good level to play against on the long side (notice the short-term tops were called with shooting star candles on 9/3 and 11/27).