KEY
TAKEAWAYS
- The S&P 500 presently sits about 8% beneath its 200-day shifting common, even with a robust upswing on final week’s tariff information.
- The newly up to date Market Abstract web page on StockCharts.com permits traders to match key market indexes to their 200-day shifting averages.
- Three essential progress stocks- META, AMZN, and TSLA- have struggled to reclaim their very own 200-day, suggesting a transparent distribution sample.
When markets get extra risky and extra unstable, I get the urge to take a step again and replicate on easy assessments of pattern and momentum. At present we’ll use some of the widespread technical indicators, the 200-day shifting common, and focus on what this easy trend-following device can inform us about circumstances for the S&P 500 index.
Nothing Good Occurs Beneath the 200-Day Shifting Common
I’ve acquired numerous questions lately as to why I am not far more bullish after the sudden rally off final Wednesday’s low. I really like to reply with Paul Tudor Jones’ well-known quote, “Nothing good occurs beneath the 200-day shifting common.”
To be clear, the 200-day shifting common is nearly 500 factors above present ranges, so it might take fairly a rally to realize that value degree any time quickly. However with the VIX nonetheless effectively above the 30 degree, meaning the market is anticipating huge value swings and massive strikes might be very doable.
However typically talking, any time I see a chart the place the worth is beneath a downward-sloping 200-day shifting common, I really feel snug making the fundamental assumption that the first pattern is down. And till the SPX can regain this long-term pattern barometer, I am inclined to deal with the market as “responsible till confirmed harmless.”
Monitoring the 200-Day With the New Market Abstract Web page
The new and up to date model of the StockCharts Market Abstract web page incorporates a desk of main fairness indexes and features a comparability to the 200-day shifting common for every index. I’ve sorted right this moment’s desk in descending order based mostly on this metric, which permits us to match the relative place of various indexes and deal with which areas of the fairness market are displaying actual power.
We are able to see that solely the Dow Utilities stay above the 200-day shifting common, even with the robust bounce we have noticed over the past week. The S&P 500 is about 8% beneath its 200-day shifting common, and for the Nasdaq Composite it is over 11%. So this principally implies that the S&P might see one other 8% rally, drawing in all types of traders, but nonetheless stay in a bearish section based mostly on its place relative to the 200-day.
Three Shares Dealing with a Essential Take a look at This Week
One chart I am watching carefully this week includes three key progress shares which might be truly very close to their very own 200-day shifting common. If these Magnificent 7 shares have sufficient upside momentum to energy by way of the 200-day, then there might undoubtedly be hope for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to comply with go well with within the coming weeks.
Be aware within the prime panel how Meta Platforms (META) powered above the 200-day final Wednesday after the announcement of a 90-day pause in tariffs. However after closing above the 200-day for that sooner or later, META broke proper again beneath the following day. META has closed decrease each buying and selling day since that breakout.
Neither Amazon.com (AMZN) nor Tesla (TSLA) reached their very own 200-day on final Wednesday’s rally, and each at the moment are quickly approaching their lows for 2025. And if mega cap progress shares like META, AMZN, and TSLA are unable to energy above their 200-day shifting averages, why ought to we count on our growth-dominated benchmarks to do the identical?
With a flurry of stories headlines each buying and selling day, and an earnings season that would paint a disturbing image of lowered expectations for financial progress and shopper sentiment, I really feel that there’s extra draw back available earlier than the good bear market of 2025 is accomplished. However as an alternative of making an attempt to foretell the longer term, I select to easily comply with the tendencies. And based mostly on the form of the 200-day shifting common for these essential charts, the first pattern seems to nonetheless be down.
RR#6,
Dave
PS- Able to improve your funding course of? Take a look at my free behavioral investing course!
David Keller, CMT
President and Chief Strategist
Sierra Alpha Analysis LLC
Disclaimer: This weblog is for academic functions solely and shouldn’t be construed as monetary recommendation. The concepts and methods ought to by no means be used with out first assessing your individual private and monetary state of affairs, or with out consulting a monetary skilled.
The creator doesn’t have a place in talked about securities on the time of publication. Any opinions expressed herein are solely these of the creator and don’t in any approach signify the views or opinions of some other individual or entity.

David Keller, CMT is President and Chief Strategist at Sierra Alpha Analysis LLC, the place he helps energetic traders make higher selections utilizing behavioral finance and technical evaluation. Dave is a CNBC Contributor, and he recaps market exercise and interviews main consultants on his “Market Misbehavior” YouTube channel. A former President of the CMT Affiliation, Dave can also be a member of the Technical Securities Analysts Affiliation San Francisco and the Worldwide Federation of Technical Analysts. He was previously a Managing Director of Analysis at Constancy Investments, the place he managed the famend Constancy Chart Room, and Chief Market Strategist at StockCharts, persevering with the work of legendary technical analyst John Murphy.
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