Stock Market Outlook entering the Week of February 19th = Uptrend
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- ADX Directional Indicators: Uptrend
- Price & Volume Signals: Uptrend
- Elliott Wave Analysis: Mixed
ANALYSIS
The stock market outlook remains in an uptrend and appeared to find technical support at the 4080 level during Friday’s session.
For the week, the S&P500 ($SPX) fell 0.3%, but remains above the 50 and 200 day moving averages.
SPX Price & Volume Chart for the Week of February 19 2023
As mentioned last week, the 4080 level provided a battleground for closing prices, going all the way back to August of 2022. After breaking above that level early this month, it now serves as a support level in technical analysis terms.
The ADX and price/volume action remains bullish, with only a couple of distribution days in the past 5 weeks.
Elliott Wave remains mixed. The bullish count aligns with the market outlook signals (ADX/Price Volume), and the bearish count aligns with macroeconomic data. No change in key levels from last week (3765 and 4196/4325).
SPX Elliott Wave Analysis for the Week of February 19 2023 – Bullish Count
The bullish count puts the index in a corrective Minute [ii] wave. Typical retracement would be between 38.2% and 61.8% of Minute [i] (~4030 & ~3930 respectively), but could drop all the way to 3764 (100% retracement).
SPX Elliott Wave Analysis for the Week of February 19 2023 – Bearish Count
The bearish count shows an expanding leading diagonal pattern for Minute [i], which suggests a test of the 4000 level next week (roughly the 50-day moving average). A Minute [ii] wave would then bring the index back towards recent highs (~4196), before entering Minute [iii] and heading lower.
COMMENTARY
January CPI data was higher than expected. I assumed stocks would sell off, but prices barely budged. Instead, it was Thursday’s higher than expected PPI data for January that that soured the mood of investors. That, combined with 0DTE trading and hawkish commentary from Fed governors sent the stock market lower.
Speaking of other “surprises”: almost 85% of the S&P 500 has reported earnings for Q4. Many financial media sources point out that earnings have surprised to the upside verses expectations and aren’t as bad as feared, causing stocks to rally year to date.
Do yourself a favor: look beyond the headline numbers, which are “adjusted” earnings. I mean, what would your financial situation look like if you could “adjust” away all your major expenses each year? GAAP earnings are the version used for Q/Q and Y/Y comparisons, as well as any fundamental analysis. And GAAP earnings are down 29% year-over-year, and it’s the 3rd straight quarter of negative YoY growth!
Looking ahead, a short week of trading; U.S. markets are closed on Monday for President’s Day. The BEA updates Q4 GDP on Thursday, following by PCE data on Friday.Q4 earnings reports continue to roll in:
Best To Your Week!
P.S. Here’s a potential contrarian and totally unofficial indicator for you: blog traffic. Typically, site traffic peaks when people are extremely bearish. Right now, traffic is barely a trickle, with some days registering zero activity, which is indicative of extreme bullishness.
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