the Trade-Radar + TradingStockAlerts blog

The latest version of TradeRadar has been released. It is easier to use and has a bug fix that will make your SELL signals more accurate. New Features Corrected a bug in the Signal Strength calculation when generating a SELL signal Added ability to click on a point on a chart and set that point as either the Window Start or Window End Full install and upgrade available Special Instructions for Current Users Only Warning - If you have downloaded TradeRadar before and you elect to download and run the full install, be sure to back up your database to a different folder. You may use the Backup feature from within the TradeRadar software for this. The installation will over-write your existing database. When the installation is complete, copy your old database over the new one. You may use the Restore feature from within the TradeRadar software to do this. Upgrade - If you are a current user of TradeRadar and you do not wish to run the full installation, there is an upgrade available. T

It is getting about that time when we announce the Trade Radar Pick o' the Month. I haven't made my mind up yet but I wanted to list a few stocks that have developed promising patterns but haven't quite generated unambiguous BUY signals. The current list is as follows: National Interstate ( NATL ) - provides insurance for the transportation industry (today's close: $26.70) Diodes Inc ( DIOD ) - semiconductor manufacturer (today's close: $36.27) Evergreen Energy ( EEE ) - provides lower emission fuel to coal-fired utilities and industries (today's close: $10.48) Alkermes Inc ( ALKS ) - a pharmaceutical company with an alcoholism treatment (today's close: $15.04) Abaxis ( ABAX ) - makes easy-to-use blood test kits for humans and animals (today's close: $21.80) All of these stocks have been trending downward for the last few months, some more steeply than others, but have recently announced better earnings and/or have garnered analyst upgrades. I am def

Weekly Market Call Earnings and interest rates dominated the week and made for a volatile stew. Much as we observed last week, most earnings reports are decent but we have seen better news in past quarters. Earnings to date are not driving the market upward in any consistent way. Indeed, all the major averages lost 0.6% this week except for the Russell 2000 which managed a gain of 0.4%. Tech rallied on Wednesday due to good news from Yahoo and Sun but the rally couldn't last and the NASDAQ finished the week on a sour note. AMD plunged on a loss, Microsoft and eBay rose on strong earnings. Amid the inconsistency and volatility, TradeRadar is now flashing another weak SELL signal on the QQQQ as it did a few weeks ago. The fact that the signal strength is again weak is clearly indicative of a market that is treading water with no clear sense of direction. On the other hand, TradeRadar continues to indicate that the Dow and S&P 500 remain in their up-trend though perhaps not as

Weekly Market Call Oil prices fell again though they made a comeback on Friday amid colder weather and Boone Pickens still looking for $70 a barrel before the year is out. Earnings season continued with disappointments from several tech bellwethers (Intel, IBM, Apple, Motorola). Some of the large caps (GE, Citi) did OK and kept the ongoing rally from flagging too badly. In general, earnings thus far are not setting the world on fire but are not causing investors to rush to the exits. Next week, the pace of reporting picks up and we'll get a better look at what 2007 might hold in store. On the other hand, the averages did look a bit tired this week. Nevertheless, the Dow and the S&P 500 continue in their respective uptrends. The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 was weak but not weak enough to have TradeRadar flash the SELL signal. Still, I am uncomfortable. There are a number of warning signs. The TradeRadar chart for QQQQ has been vacillating over the last few weeks. Tech sectors like se

Time magazine recently ran its Person of the Year feature and it was "You". Time was trying to recognize all the ways that average folks are gaining their 15 minutes of fame, becoming instant pundits and sharing their opinions and lives with one another. Time also made a point of showing how the Internet has enabled much of this activity with web sites like MySpace and YouTube and the millions of blogs that have sprung up. The techies look at this ferment as one aspect of Web 2.0, where the Internet is evolving from being company and commerce driven to being more interactive in both technology and the kinds of bottom-up creativity that take the form of online sharing and collaboration, social networking sites, wikis, etc. Some of us who are serious about investing are, shall we say, "of a certain age" and tend toward the conservative. We are not so likely to be embracing every new Internet fad that comes along. Nevertheless, if you are an investor and you are out th

Weekly Market Call It's been a pretty good week. Oil prices fell and retail sales were up. Earnings season kicked off and results thus far have been reasonably encouraging. Against this backdrop, the markets are back on track. The Dow and the S&P 500 continue in their respective uptrends with the Dow hitting a new high. With the strong showing in retail sales this week, preceded by a strong jobs report last week, the market is now assuming that the Fed will not lower interest rates any time during the first half of the year. The market has managed to shrug off this concern and look to fundamentals. With commodity prices falling, margins should be increasing. Lower gas prices will put more spending money in consumers pockets. The housing downturn doesn't seem to be spilling over into the general economy. There are good reasons to bullish! Now, on to the NASDAQ. After having TradeRadar flash the SELL signal for the last few weeks, the NASDAQ has started a turnaround and it ac

The TradeRadar software has been updated and is available for free download. The newest feature allows the user to directly retrieve historical prices from Yahoo from within the TradeRadar software. No more manual downloading and loading of CSV files; it all works automatically as long as you have an Internet connection. Click the button and you are immediately able to begin using the charting functions to generate buy/sell signals. Further refinements have been made when loading historical price data from the Yahoo or MSN Money sites. Existing data is now over-written if date ranges overlap; ie, errors will no longer be displayed if a new file contains prices for dates that are already in the TradeRadar database. In addition, the TradeRadar Help file has been improved. The new version is bundled with the TradeRadar software download and is also available for viewing from both the Download page and the Features page.