Short-term strength is often followed by short-term weakness, but when that short-term strength is unusually impressive, it can create a situation where that extreme strength will beget more strength. When the market leaves an unfilled up gap that is considered a sign of strength.  When it does it 2 days in a row and closes at a 50-day high, that can be considered exceptional strength. That is what happened on Friday, and it triggered the study below, which I last shared on the blog on 9/10/12.  All stats are updated to present day.

The size of the follow-through isn’t terribly large. But it has been very, very consistent that at least some follow through was achieved in the next few days.

April marked the 6th month in a row that SPX has managed a positive close.  I have seen many analysts suggest this means the market is overextended and due to correct in the coming months.  So I decided to take a look for myself.  I ran a study to examine past performance following 6 consecutive months of gains.

The 1st month out of the gate looks to have about breakeven odds.  After that everything points to the bullish case, with strongly positive stats across the board for the next 10 months or so.  In fact, 10 months out all 14 instances were higher.  Below I have listed the 14 instances.

Some strong results here.  Based on this, it appears that the bulls should be celebrating that 6-month rally, rather than the bears trying to use it as evidence for an overdue pullback.

Of course there has also been a lot discussed about “Sell in May” and the possible weak upcoming seasonality.  I did a detailed study on this in the intermediate-term section of the Subscriber Letter this past week.  If you would like to read it you may sign up for a free trial using the link below.

https://quantifiableedges.com/members/register.php

In the 9/7/12 blog I looked at the short-term importance of an unfilled upside gap accompanying a breakout.  With yesterday’s breakout to a new closing high occurring along with an unfilled up gapI have revisited that study below.

Results here are strong across the board.

Now let’s look at instances where the 50-day high breakout was not accompanied by an unfilled gap.  Interestingly, the number of instances was nearly the same.  This study also appeared in the 9/7/12 blog.

As you can see these moves to new highs that don’t start with an unfilled gap are much less reliable over the short-term.

Technicians will often use the term “breakaway gap”.  This suggests the gap occurs on the same day as a base breakout.  The idea is that the new high causes excitement and the gap leaves a good amount of people sidelined or stuck short.  When it doesn’t immediately fill, it leads these people to chase and helps to propel the market even higher.

Strong, persistent moves often do not roll over immediately.  Real persistency can set up a situation where strength begets more strength.  An example of that concept was triggered with Friday’s setup, where we had the 1st down day after 5 consecutive higher closes.

Initially there appears to be a moderate inclination for a bounce.  Once you get out 9-10 days the upside edge appears very substantial.  Based on this, there appears a good chance that the dip that started Friday may not get too far before the market again moves higher.

I am seeing a real mix of evidence right now, as neither bullish nor bearish short-term evidence is dominating.  The study below is one example of a study from last night’s letter with possible bearish implications. It examines 2-day moves like SPY has just encountered.

The suggestion here is that more downside appears likely over the next few days.

Large-caps definitely held up better than the rest of the market on Monday.  Coming from a 50-day high, this caused the study below to trigger.  It was last seen in the 9/18/12 letter.  Stats are all updated.

The implication here is that when the SPX is coming off a high level and it holds up relatively well despite broad selling, it will often have further to drop.  The selling in the broad market could spill over into the large caps.  There’s a chance they could even play catch-up to the downside.  The good news for bulls here is that the bearish inclinations have only lasted a couple of days.

Yesterday was interesting and unusual because it posted an unfilled gap up and a close above the open, but still finished as an inside day.  This triggered the below study in the Quantifinder.

Implications are somewhat bearish for a 1-day time frame.  I also discussed this setup in the subscriber letters over the weekend, because not only did it trigger yesterday, but also it triggered on Friday.

The market had gone quite a while without a pullback before the last 2 days.  Monday, for the 1st time in a while, SPY closed at a 5-day low.  The study below looks at at other instances of SPY closing at a 5-day low after going at least 2 weeks without one.

Results here suggest a decent upside edge.