Charting Stocks

Much has been made (mostly by the mainstream media) over the recent rally in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Many of the usual suspects, including those that have been wrong for the past 3 years, have been quick to call a bottom. We, as technicians, tend to pay little attention to CNBC, Fox Business, etc. [...]

The US Labor Department reports that  US non-farm payrolls  fell by 651,000 in the short month of February bringing the US unemployment rate to 8.1%, the highest level in 25 years.
The number of unemployed persons increased by 851,000 to 12.5 million in February, and the unemployment rate
rose to 8.1 percent. Over the past [...]

BREAKING: Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) saw  Lincoln and Mercury sales fall 48% from February ‘08 to 96,044. The automaker also reported  405,000 units of inventory, a 32% reduction from the same period last year.
Ford expects to produce 425,000 vehicles in Q2 (135,000 cars and 290,000 trucks). In Q208, Ford produced 685,000 vehicles (237,000 [...]

According to todays ISM release, the US Manufacturing sector dropped again in February while the employment sentiment fell to its lowest reading ever.  This is the 13th straight month of manufacturing declines.
The Institute for Supply Management’ s (ISM) monthly purchasing managers’ index (PMI) registered a reading of 35.8% in February. Readings under 50% are consistent [...]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both closed below their 2002 lows.
ChartingStocks.net wrote in our 2009 forecast, contrary to Wall St consensus,  that we expect the Dow Jones to breach the 6,000 level this year and touch upon 5,800. The risk to our outlook would have come if the Dow Jones was [...]

The oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, sold half of his stake in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).
Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has just reported its holdings as of December 31 2008. The company slashed its position in JNJ to 28.6 million shares down from 61.8 million the previous quarter (a 54% reduction). Johnson & Johnson peaked in [...]

The Labor Department reported that the US unemployment rate jumped to 7.6% and nonfarm payrolls fell by the largest amount in 34 years.
Nonfarm payrolls dropped by a seasonally adjusted 598,000 in January, after a revised loss of 577,000 in December.
January marked the largest payroll loss since December 1974, according to a survey of workplaces. [...]

Harvard and Yale endowments are known for their stellar long term performance, though even the “smartest guys in the room” are not immune to this collapse.
Harvard endowment recently reported a 22% drop in the funds value from a year ago. The 22% drop does not include the drop in assets which are managed by external [...]