MO Watch

The tobacco company Altria Corp. (MO) has moved to bear phase on the fast stochastic, parabolic sar, the macd and Person's Proprietary Signal (pps), and the five-day trend has turned down.

	trend	sto	sto zone	pps	psar	macd	macd trend	ma20	ma200
MO $23.90

Based on that cluster of signals alone, the cautious trader will exit and see what develops.

However, the chart, so far at least, is far from being a study in unrelieved bearish gloom.

The price has bounced twice off of the 20-day moving average. And even in the near term, the price has yet to set a lower low. The uptrend remains in force.

When I wrote about MO on Sept. 13, I called its finances a "mixed bag". With earnings due out on Oct. 20 before the open, there is all the more reason for caution.

On the Person's chart, MO is trading just below the weekly midline.

Person's Table

	pps	pps open	upper pivot	lower pivot
MO $23.90		$24.01 oct1	$24.23 +1.4%	$23.50 -1.7%

Reversal Levels

• $24.39, +2.1% (swing high)
• $23.90 <== You are here.


• $23.74, -0.7% (20-day moving average)


• $22.26, -6.9% (recent low)


• $21.08, -11.8% (200-day moving average)

For the less cautious trader, the exit signals would be a decisive break below the 200-day moving average, or a drop below the low of Aug. 31 ($22.26), establishing a lower low and the possibility of a downtrend. Disclaimer

Tim Bovee, Private Trader tracks the trades of a private trader for his own accounts. Nothing in this blog constitutes a recommendation to buy or sell stocks, options or any other financial instrument. The only purpose of this blog is to provide education and entertainment. No trader is ever 100 percent successful in his or her trades. Trading in the stock and option markets is risky and uncertain. Each trader must make trading decision decisions for his or her own account, and take responsibility for the consequences.

Abbreviations:

• pps - Person's Proprietary Signal.
• psar - Parabolic Stop and Reverse
• ma20 - 20-day moving average
• ma200 - 200-day moving average
• macd - Moving Average Convergence-Divergence
• sto - Fast Stochastic

About the glance: The colors indicate the state of each signal.

• trend: Determined by the 5-day moving average, green for up, red for down, yellow for sideways.
• sto: green for bull, red for bear.
• sto zone: green for overbought (80+), red for oversold (20-), yellow for neutral zone
• psar, pps, macd: green for bull mode, red for bear.
• macd trend: green for rising, yellow for sideways, red for falling.
neutral.
• ma20, ma200: green for above the average by more than 1%, red for below the average by more than 1%, yellow for within 1% either side of the average.