3/9 Watchlist

Blue chip stocks (SPY) pushed up to within 15 cents of the Jan. 14 high, close enough that if you squint your eyes, it counts as a 100 percent retracement of the decline from $115.14 down to $104.58 on Feb. 5.

A move above $115.14 creates a new high and confirms continuation of the uptrend that began in March 2009 at $67.10.

For SPY, all skies as sunny, all rainbows bright and all technical signals are bullish, at least the ones that I follow.

The long-term Treasury bonds (TLT), by contrast, continue to soak under a chilly drizzle of the sort found only in the Pacific Northwest in a March where the promise of spring-to-come remains unkept.

3/8 Watchlist

The markets are marking time today. There's little change in my indicators since this morning. I've added the telcom company AT&T to the Watchlist, as well as to my holdings, and kicked Texas Instruments off the island.

The watchlist.

3/5 Watchlist

A very late posting because of connectivity problems earlier today.

Blue chip stocks (SPY) traversed 1.1% low to high today after gapping up at the open. Today's high was 1.4% above yesterday's.

The move propelled SPY to within 0.8% of the $115.14 high that ended a 10-month run-up beginning at $67.10 in March 2009.

3/4 Watchlist

The indicators continue in the paths they entered at the open. Just another day in low-volatility paradise. (I, however, am a high volatility person. This little touch of Heaven, for my style of trading, reeks a bit like Hell.)

The watchlist.

3/3 Watchlist

Every time I look at the blue chips chart today, my brain just swings into a rendition of the itsy bitsy spider song. You know the one, "Itsy bitsy spider, climbed up the water spout".

Today's SPY candlestick looks like an itsy bitsy spider hanging by a silken thread from the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement line.

Of course, we all remember the next line of the song: "Down came the rain, and washed the spider out," no doubt at least to the 61.8% retracement level.

Who'd'a thought that Fibonacci retracements could be applied to spider analysis.

3/2 Watchlist

Blue chip stocks (SPY) are hanging from the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement line like a spider hanging from a door frame. The open-to-now range is just a few cents.

Treasury long-term bonds (TLT) have pushed up into yesterday's trading range, recovering nearly all of what they lost on this morning's downward gap.

Gold (GLD) has broken above the trading range set Feb. 16-22 into an area of congestion set in mid-January. Altogether, it has traversed 1.4% today low to high.

GDX psar bull signal

A new indicator, the Parabolic Stop and Reverse (psar), to play with in my scans. This is all sorts of exciting.

GDX, the gold miners exchange-traded fund, shows a psar bull signal on a gap up. The stock is now trading up 2.8% from yesterday's close, at resistance set in mid-February.

If the price can break above $46, it has a fairly clear shot up to $50. The broader trend has been sideways since February in pause amid a decline that began last December. So a directional trade would be counter-trend.

2/10 Watchlist

The price of Treasury long-term bonds (TLT) is down 1.2%, high to now, and has reached a near-term support level ranging from $90.50 to about $89. The macd is giving a bear signal, as is Person's Proprietary Signal. Falling bond prices means traders expect higher interest rates ahead, and the Federal Reserve has been looking at how to exit from the current very low interest environment.

Corporate high-yield debt (JNK) is also down considerably. It is in part influenced by the federal interest rates, but also by expectations of corporate default. Traders may well judge that higher rates would stop the present recovery in its tracks, so JNK would suffer on two counts.

The other indicators I watch are trading in the ranges set yesterday.

To the scans! Here's what's interesting in high-volume . . .