Thursday, December 11, 2008

50 Day Moving Average-Potential Bright Spot?




Two different images of the 50 day moving average. That is in it's simples form an average of stock prices plotted on a line over a certain period of days. The chart to the left shows this in days and the chart to the right shows it in hours. Note how both of these have started to level off.
Traders & investors generally view securities trading above their 50 day moving average as bullish. A change in sentiment is important if markets are going to trade higher on a consistent basis. By the end of next week the S&P 500 will have dropped virtually of it's fall decline as shown in the chart on the left. This will enable the it's 50 day moving average to flatten out. Stocks should test this line at some point soon. The S&P 500 has not traded above it's 50 day moving average since May 30, 2008.
*Long ETFs related to the S&P 500 in various client accounts.