Monday, December 18, 2017

S&P 500 and FTSE 100 charts (Dec 15 '17): bulls keep charging ahead

S&P 500 index chart pattern


The daily bar chart pattern of S&P 500 faced a brief dip on Wed. & Thu. (Dec 13 & 14), which was gleefully bought by bulls. The index rose to touch another new high of 2680 on Fri. Dec 15 - on the back of a sharp rise in volumes - before closing slightly lower.

All three EMAs are rising and the index closed well above them in a bull market with a weekly gain of 0.9%. However, the volume spike on Fri. may be the sign of a buying climax. 

Investors pulled $16.2 billion from U.S.-based equity funds during the latest week, according to Lipper on Thu. Dec 14, marking the largest withdrawals since December 2016.

Daily technical indicators are looking bullish but overbought. An index can remain overbought for long periods. Negative divergences visible on RSI and Slow stochastic (both failed to touch new highs with the index) can lead to another corrective dip.


On longer term weekly chart (not shown), the index closed well above its three rising weekly EMAs in a long-term bull market. Weekly technical indicators are looking overbought. Slow stochastic failed to touch a new high with the index, and can trigger a correction towards the rising 20 week EMA. 

FTSE 100 index chart pattern


For the third time in 3 months, the daily bar chart pattern of FTSE 100 attempted a breakout above the (purple) down trend line that has dominated the chart since early Jun '17.

The index rose to touch a high of 7511 on Wed. Dec 13 but formed a small 'reversal day' (higher high, lower close) bar that triggered a pullback to the down trend line on Fri. Dec 15. 

However, the index bounced up from the trend line to form a large 'reversal day' (lower low, higher close) bar, and closed with a weekly gain of 1.3%.

Daily technical indicators are looking bullish. MACD has entered positive zone after a month. RSI is above its 50% level. Slow stochastic is moving down inside its overbought zone, and can limit index upside. (At the time of writing this post, the index is trading above its Wed. top of 7511.) 

On longer term weekly chart (not shown), the index closed above its three weekly EMAs in a long-term bull market. Weekly technical indicators are in bullish zones and showing upward momentum.

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