The Weekly Report For April 27th - May 1st, 2009

April 26, 2009- Market Summary
It was a mixed week on Wall Street as many investors started to wonder if the markets were getting ready to stage a pullback. From a technical perspective, several key indicators such as the Relative Strength Index are nearing overbought territory, which suggests that the upside could be limited from here on out. Investors will look for upcoming earnings reports to act as a catalyst that could send the indexes higher in the short-term, but key areas of resistance are still standing in the way of a shift in the longer-term downtrend.

Positive quarterly earnings results from Amazon (Nasdaq:AMZN) American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) helped send the stock market higher for the seventh consecutive week, but the question becomes: what factors will continue to drive prices higher from here? The chart of interest this week is of the Nasdaq because it is quickly approaching the 200-day moving average. Many active traders will be keeping a close eye on these levels because it has historically used to determine the direction of the market. A break above could trigger a long-term shift in sentiment. (To learn more about levels of resistance, be sure to check out the Support And Resistance section of our Technical Analysis Tutorial.)

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