The market does not always follow the same script or sequence, but bear markets typically end with a bottoming process marked by specific stages. These include capitulation, a short-term reversal-thrust, a follow-through thrust and long-term regime change. The first two stages mark downside excess and the initial turn around, while the latter two signal strong follow through. Today’s report will look at the first two phases, and preview the last two.

Phase 1: Capitulation

The capitulation phase of a bear market occurs when traders throw in the towel as downside momentum and selling pressure accelerate. Usually, the capitulation phase occurs after an extended decline, and this phase is the first step to a bottom. The chart below shows SPY with Bollinger Bands (200,3), %B (200,3) and S&P 500 Percent Above 200-day SMA ($SPXA200R). Signs of capitulation emerge when %B is below 0 and/or fewer than 20% of S&P 500 stocks are above their 200-day SMAs. The blue dashed lines show capitulation in June 2022, September 2022 and early April 2025. Note that we initially covered this capitulation phase in a report on April 8th.

Phase 2: Short-term Thrust Signals (ZBT)

Phase 2 is marked by a sharp-reversal from oversold extremes and an upside thrust. The Zweig Breadth Thrust is perhaps the most famous thrust indicator these days. We covered the ZBT extensively over the last few weeks and introduced a strategy using this indicator. The chart below shows the S&P 1500 ZBT indicator in the lower window (10-day EMA of S&P 1500 AD%). A thrust signal triggered on April 24th and stocks followed through with further gains.  

Two Down and Two to Go

The capitulation phase showed excessive selling pressure and the thrust phase marked a short-term reversal. These are bullish events, but the market cup is not yet half full. SPY remains below its 200-day SMA and the late March high (see chart above). Medium-term thrust indicators have yet to trigger and long-term breadth remains bearish. The 14% surge over the last 17 days is impressive, but keep in mind that SPY surged 10% in nine days in March 2022, which was a bear market bounce.

TrendInvestorPro produced a report this week covering the four phases – and what to watch going forward. Click here to take a trial and get immediate access.

• Phase 1: Capitulation
• Phase 2: Short-term Thrust Signals
• Phase 3: Medium-term Thrust Signals
• Capitulation and Thrust Indexes
• Phase 4: Long-term Indicators turn Bullish
• Short-term Improvements, but Longer Term 

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I feel like the short-term risk is turning once again and I’ll explain why in my analysis below. Please don’t misunderstand. I suggested a bottom was in place a few weeks ago and I LOVE what has been happening in terms of manipulation/accumulation and I LOVE the fact that we were able to quickly regain both the 20-day EMA and 50-day SMA on our major indices.

However, here are the four major indices and where they’re at currently on their respective charts and their next key overhead resistance levels:

Dow Jones

We did manage to close just above the 50-day SMA here, but the Dow Jones still appears vulnerable to me. Given the fact that the S&P 500 has room to run up to what is now major price resistance at 5782, I could see the Dow Jones moving a bit higher to challenge the late-March high at approximately 42750. That could serve as a neckline.

S&P 500

20-day EMA resistance? No problem, went right through. Gap resistance 5500? Ditto. 50-day SMA resistance. Ditto. This rally has been impressive. Key levels of price resistance have failed and this tells me that we’re not going to violate the low at 4835. It’s set in stone, in my opinion. There are still a couple of key resistance levels on the S&P 500 that we’ll have to deal with next week. The first will be the early-April rebound attempt that failed near 5700. Today’s intraday high was 5700. The next one, however, will be the biggest on the chart and that’s where we last failed in late March – at 5782.

NASDAQ 100:

Looks similar to the S&P 500, but I did add the RSI to this chart. During downtrends, RSI 60 tends to be rather big resistance. We see many rallies fail at or near that level. The NDX just crossed RSI 60….barely. At our Friday intraday high, the NASDAQ 100 pulled within 100 points (less than 0.5%) of the late-March high near 20250. I don’t know if we turn here or not, but I do know the risks are elevated.

Russell 2000:

The 197 level offered great price support on multiple occasions, so when we see a heavy-volume breakdown like we saw in early April, we should recognize how important it is to clear that same price resistance on the way back up. We did so on Friday with gusto. I absolutely LOVE the sudden accumulation that’s taken place in the IWM. I believe that will result in a much larger move at some point later this year. But are we due for another round of selling first, perhaps at upcoming price resistance levels marked above? We’ll soon find out.

Be careful ahead, especially if a rising-volume, reversing candle prints on our major indices sometime next week.

Sentiment

Check out this 5-day SMA of the equity only put call ratio ($CPCE):

We just hit 0.55, showing the most complacency we’ve seen in the past 5 weeks or so. Extreme low readings have previously marked corrections and/or cyclical bear markets and that was one key topping indicator that I discussed back in January/February. Other prior moves down to 0.55 have also resulted in short-term tops. I thought the current .55 reading was worth pointing out for this reason.

Seasonality could also play a role. Early May (through the 5th) tends to provide historical tailwinds, but the middle part of May (6th through 25th) has a history of being rather challenging. The 5th is Monday, so given everything I’ve discussed above and knowing that our bullish seasonal window could soon be closing, watch for a potential reversing candle as a sign to think about reducing risk (covered calls, S&P 500 puts for insurance, moving to cash, etc.).

I’m not ready to definitively call a short-term top here, but I do want to point out that the SHORT-TERM risks of being long right now are growing. Do with that what you may.

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Happy trading!

Tom

We just wrapped up a busy week jam-packed with key economic data and big tech earnings. And we have some positive news: the market held up pretty well. May is off to a good start.

Strong earnings from META Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) gave the stock market a boost. Together, their strong performance helped the Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ) break above its 50-day simple moving average (SMA).

On Friday, the rally got an extra shot in the arm from a better-than-expected jobs report—177,000 jobs added vs. 135,000 expected. That helped fuel a market-wide rally, with all the major indexes ending the week in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) closed up 1.46%, the S&P 500 ($SPX) up 1.42%, and the Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ) up 1.41%.

A quick glance at the Equities panel (US Indexes tab) in the Market Summary page shows that the S&P 500, Dow Industrials, Russell 1000, and the Wilshire 5000 had nine consecutive up days. This is quite the reversal after trade war outcomes spooked investors. The weekly streak isn’t too shabby either, with many indexes displaying four consecutive up streaks. More indexes are now trading above their 50-day moving averages compared to a few days ago.

What Does This Mean Going Forward?

After a negative statistic in the Q1 GDP growth, the strong jobs report put recessionary fears in the rearview mirror. However, this also lowers the chances of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in the May FOMC meeting. And looking at the CME FedWatch Tool, the probability of a rate cut in June has dropped to 36.4%, so it may be July before we see a rate cut. But this scenario could change between now and June.

Does this week’s price action mean the equity market is reversing? One thing is clear: The situation is much more positive than it was three weeks ago. But to get an objective view, it’s best to focus on the charts.

The Technical PoV

The daily chart of $SPX below shows that Friday’s close basically wipes out the “post Liberation Day” losses. Essentially, all the volatile action that took place in the last month was an emotional reaction to the uncertainty that investors were battling against. It was an emotional roller coaster. Now that the S&P 500 is back to the high of April 2, does it mean things have returned to business as usual?

FIGURE 1. DAILY CHART OF S&P 500. The index closed at around the same level it did on Liberation Day. Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Seasonally, May is a good month in the stock market, as are June and July. You can see this in the seasonality chart of the S&P 500. The data supports some of the price action we’re seeing, especially among sectors and industry groups.

Sector Snapshot

All 11 S&P sectors closed in the green on Friday. For the week, Industrials, Technology, and Financials were the leading sectors. It’s interesting to note that Friday’s leading sector, Financials, is showing signs of recovery after the April fall. The daily chart of the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) shows the ETF trading above its 50- and 200-day SMAs. Its relative strength index (RSI) is also rising.

FIGURE 2. DAILY CHART OF XLF. The ETF broke above its 50-day moving average and its relative strength is also rising. Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Of the three, the Technology sector is technically the weakest. It’s trading below its 200-day SMA, and its 50-day SMA is below its 200-day SMA. To see strength return to the broader market, the Technology sector needs show technical strength.

The Nasdaq Composite Bullish Percent Index ($BPCOMP) is at 46.52. It showed a reversal from a level just above 20 and crossed above 30, indicating a bull alert. A cross above 50 would be a favorable bull signal.

FIGURE 3. NASDAQ COMPOSITE BULLISH PERCENT INDEX. After a sharp reversal from above 20, $BPCOMPQ crossed above the 30 level and is approaching the 50 level. Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Keep an eye on this chart, since a break above 50 could be an early signal of improving breadth in the Nasdaq Composite.

At the Close

While the stock market’s price action seems to have regained some of its momentum, there needs to be more confirmation to suggest a trend reversal. Keep an eye on the charts of the broader indexes, sectors, and the BPIs. Look for technical indicators to confirm the rally’s strength and keep an eye on interest rate expectations.

End-of-Week Wrap-Up

• S&P 500 up 2.92% on the week, at 5686.67, Dow Jones Industrial Average up 3.0% on the week at 41,317.43; Nasdaq Composite up 3.42% on the week at 17,977.73.
• $VIX down 8.86% on the week, closing at 22.64.
• Best performing sector for the week: Industrials
• Worst performing sector for the week: Energy
• Top 5 Large Cap SCTR stocks: Palantir Technologies, Inc. (PLTR); Duolingo Inc. (DUOL); Summit Therapeutics PLC (SMMT); MicroStrategy (MSTR); Roblox Corp (RBLX)

On the Radar Next Week

• Earnings season continues with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B.CO), Ford (F), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and several others reporting.
• ISM Services PMI
• Fed Interest Rate Decision/Press Conference
• Fed speeches from Kugler, Goolsbee, Waller, Williams, and others on Friday

Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

With the major averages logging a strong up week across the board, and with the Nasdaq 100 finally retesting its 200-day moving average from below, it can feel like a challenging time to take a shot at winning charts. You may ask yourself, “Do I really want to be betting on further upside after an incredibly strong April?”

When the macro environment feels less certain, I find it’s helpful to go back to tried-and-true technical analysis approaches. By identifying stocks with constructive chart patterns, we can hopefully focus our attention on names that could do well regardless of the overall market movements in the coming weeks.

With that bottom-up investing justification in mind, let’s review three recent earnings names that are showing strong technical profiles going into next week.

Visa Inc. (V)

Both Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) reported earnings, and both stocks experienced an upside follow-through after their quarterly report. Visa has been pounding out a consistent pattern of lower lows and lower highs since the end of February, but this week appears to have broken that downtrend pattern.

After Tuesday’s earnings release, Visa completed a move out of the downtrend phase by breaking trendline resistance using the major peaks from February and March. Wednesday’s up day pushed V back above the 50-day moving average, a level which had repelled a previous breakout attempt in mid-April. MA has now broken above its late March high, and a similar move next week would suggest a retest of all-time highs for Visa.

Coca Cola Co. (KO)

The Consumer Staples sector pulled back this week, and leading names in the sector, such as Coca-Cola (KO), experienced a brief drop post-earnings. KO is demonstrating a cup-and-handle pattern, although we’ve not seen the breakout that would serve to confirm a bullish outlook.

We’ve used the Annotations tool to draw a rectangle marking the resistance zone from the September 2024 peak. Subsequent peaks in March and April 2025 have retested this same range, forming the cup-and-handle pattern which often precedes a strong upthrust. The trigger for this pattern is a confirmed break above the rim of the cup, and, with this week’s pullback, investors will have to wait for this bullish confirmation.

We’ve noted the bearish momentum divergence in recent months, with the higher price highs in March and April marked by weaker RSI peaks. With this bearish divergence clearly signalling a weaker momentum profile, we would need to see a valid break above $74 on stronger RSI readings to negate the divergence and confirm an upside breakout.

CME Group Inc. (CME)

Since I discussed the exchanges with Jay Woods on my Market Misbehavior podcast back in February, I’ve been following the resilient uptrend of higher highs and higher lows. The daily chart features a series of consolidation patterns followed by upside breakouts that have led to further gains.

This is the kind of chart that I think about when someone asks, “But if you’re buying the new highs list, isn’t that too late?” The chart of CME shows that new highs often lead to even more new highs. And when a stock like CME Group keeps pulling back to an ascending 50-day moving average, I’m reminded the essence of trend-following is to remain invested in charts that continue to work.

In the immortal words of legendary technical analyst Paul Montgomery, “The most bullish thing the market can do is go up!”

I had the pleasure of heading back into the StockCharts TV studio this week to shoot the “Top Ten Stocks for May 2025” video with Grayson Roze. Visa was one of the five stocks I contributed. Check out the other nine in this week’s video!

RR#6,

Dave

P.S. Ready to upgrade your investment process? Check out my free behavioral investing course!

David Keller, CMT

President and Chief Strategist

Sierra Alpha Research LLC

Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

The author does not have a position in mentioned securities at the time of publication. Any opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person or entity.