The 2.6% advance from General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares on Thursday still wasn’t enough to get, and keep, the overall market out of the red. Although the index spent some time in profitable territory yesterday, by the time the closing bell rang the S&P 500 was down to the tune of 0.22%.
Rather than GE, a few too many traders were taking their cues from Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX). Shares of the microblogging platform fell 4.3% in response to reports that conservatives may be boycotting the left-leaning company. Quest Diagnostics fell 9.3% after lowering its 2018 revenue outlook after Wednesday’s closing bell rang.
Despite the handful of volatile moves from a few names, the dust is mostly settling and most stocks are starting to move in a way that leads to predictable patterns. The stocks charts of Hologic (NASDAQ:HOLX), Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) and Newell Brands (NYSE:NWL) are among the stocks most worthy of a technical look as Friday’s action kicks off.
Hologic (HOLX)
If Hologic rings a bell, it may be because it was under the trading microscope back on Nov. 21 after it moved within reach of a major technical ceiling that was part of a converging wedge pattern. It wasn’t above it at the time, though all clues suggested HOLX would undergo a big breakout move.
That’s exactly what happened in the meantime, which is bullish in a bigger-picture sense. But, would-be buyers may want to hold off before stepping in given the shape of Thursday’s bar.
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• Zooming out to a weekly chart, it’s clear that the falling resistance line, plotted with a white dashed line, has been breached. While Hologic may be headed for a near-term pullback, as long as the stock remains above the upper edge of the narrowing trading range, the breakout move is still intact.
Juniper Networks (JNPR)
Juniper Networks is another name we’ve looked at recently. Specifically, back on Nov. 9 we pointed out the then-impressive rally was actually vulnerable to a pullback after bumping into a long-established technical ceiling.
JNPR did indeed peel back. But, the selling stopped at a critical line in the sand, and it appears that the stock has got a shot at testing that same resistance level.
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• The technical ceiling is also the upper edge of a rising trading range, plotted with white dashed lines and best seen on the weekly chart.
• Last week’s low also helped further define the lower edge of the trading range that’s been in place since the second quarter of this year.
Newell Brands (NWL)
You may know the company Newell Brands better by one of its brand names, Rubbermaid, Mr. Coffee or Sunbeam, just to name a few.
It’s been a tough year and a half for the company and shareholders, though not because its wares aren’t recognizable, marketable products. In 2016, the company simply fell into almost every imaginable pitfall it could have, and a string of acquisition and divestitures all proved to be expensive headaches. It’s all starting to look like it’s in the past though, pushing NWL shares to a make-or-break level.
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• The litmus test is the 200-day moving average line, plotted in white on both stock charts. Newell shares have made it there, but have yet to hurdle that likely ceiling. The last encounter with that line didn’t go so well.
• This encounter is different though. This time, there’s lots of bullish volume on the way up, and it continues to grow.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can follow him on Twitter, at @jbrumley.
