Tuesday, April 3, 2012

What do you follow, the fundamentals....the charts....or both?

Why is it that the fundamentals don’t match the charts? The stock market is a forward looking instrument. It forecasts how businesses are going to be months into the future. You only have to look back in the first quarter of 2009 to see how the fundamentals looked terrible, yet the charts pointed to better days ahead. What do you follow, the fundamentals or the charts, or both?

And what do both tell us when looking at this crude oil market. We believe the low seen yesterday on the May contract around the $102 area is going to be an important support level for this market. We are looking for the May contract to continue to consolidate around current levels and eventually move up to the $108 area, where it should find resistance.

We continue to like the long term chart formation which we believe will eventually push this market higher. We are still looking for crude oil to make its lows probably somewhere in the April-May period and then we expect that the downside pressure in this market to come to an end. Long term traders should remain long this market with appropriate money management stops.

Tuesdays action finished up with crude oil [May contract] closing lower due to profit taking as it consolidated some of Monday's rally. The low range close sets the stage for a steady to lower opening on Wednesday. Stochastics and the RSI are turning neutral hinting that a low might be in or is near.

Closes above the reaction high crossing at 108.70 are needed to confirm that a short term low has been posted. If May renews last week's decline, the 38% retracement level of the October-March rally crossing at 97.84 is the next downside target.

First resistance is the broken October-February uptrend line crossing near 106.27. Second resistance is the reaction high crossing at 108.70. First support is Monday's low crossing at 102.06. Second support is the 38% retracement level of the October-March rally crossing at 97.84.

Check out our latest Video, Market Analysis and Forecast for the Dollar, Crude Oil, Gold, Silver, and the SP500

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