Tech could pull stocks out of their slump - Alert HQ signals for Nov 12, 2009

This post is announcing that Thursday's Swing Signals, Trend Leaders, Trend Busters and Gap Signals are now available at Alert HQ. All are based on daily data.

Today we have the following:

• 30 Swing Signals -- 23 BUY signals and 7 SELL Signals.
  
• 283 Trend Leaders, all in strong up-trends according to Aroon, MACD and DMI. We have 114 stocks that are new additions to the list and 40 that fell off the previous list.
  
• 35 Trend Busters of which 31 are BUY signals and 4 are SELL signals.
• 255 Gap Signals -- stocks with upside or downside gaps or gaps that have been closed. 120 are bearish gaps and 135 are bullish gaps.
  

The view from Alert HQ --
 
Markets were weak today but our signals are holding their own.  BUY signals still well outnumber SELL signals and the Trend Leaders list has continued to expand.

On the other hand, the rally has progressed to the point where we have fewer candidates that are making it as Swing Trading BUY signals.This often happens when the majority of stocks have been in a trend for a while. Today's pullback, however, brings a note of doubt into the rally we have been enjoying for the last week or two.If we quickly pull out of the decline that began today, we could see a resurgence in Swing BUY Signals. If we don't, well, it could be cause for real worry.

The following chart shows how the S&P 500 has failed to make a convincing new high and then sold off today.

A hopeful sign suggesting that today's pullback is just a temporary and minor setback is that the technology sector is now outperforming the (always suspect in my eyes) financial sector. We can see from this next chart of the iShares Technology ETF that the sector rose further and today fell less than the S&P 500.

So, to me, it is reassuring to see a good number of tech stocks and ETFs (including IYW) added to the Trend Leaders list today.

In any case, markets can't go straight up so it's not much of a surprise to see stocks fall today. To my mind, though, the most deserving stocks are holding up best. And that implies the trend remains upward.

Using our signals --

If you're a momentum trader, the Trend Leaders list is a good place to go shopping. If you practice technical analysis, check out the Trend Busters. And if you are a short-term trader or even a day trader, our Swing Signals or Gap Signals may provide some good trading ideas.