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New 52-week Highs Underwhelm, But Outpace New Lows

Arthur Hill

Arthur Hill

Chief Technical Strategist, TrendInvestorPro.com

The total number of new highs in the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 continues to underwhelm. Even so, new highs are still outpacing new lows and this is enough to keep the uptrend since late March going.

The first chart shows new highs and lows for the three indexes with horizontal lines at the 10% level (e.g. 50 and -50 for the S&P 500). New highs in the S&P 500 exceeded 50 in mid July, but remain well below the levels seen in December, January and February (green zone). New highs for the S&P MidCap 400 have yet to exceed 40 and new highs for the S&P SmallCap 600 have yet to exceed 60. Again, mid-caps and small-caps are lagging overall.

We can track cumulative net new highs with the High-Low Lines based on High-Low Percent, which is new highs less new lows divided by total issues. The High-Low Lines rise as long as new highs outpace new lows, regardless of the total number of new highs. The chart below shows the S&P 500 High-Low Line rising since mid April, the S&P MidCap 400 High-Low Line rising since late April and the S&P SmallCap 600 High-Low Line turning up in late May. All three are rising and this is bullish until two of the three turn down (break their 10-day EMAs).

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Arthur Hill, CMT

Chief Technical Strategist, TrendInvestorPro.com

Author, Define the Trend and Trade the Trend


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Arthur Hill
About the author: , CMT, is the Chief Technical Strategist at TrendInvestorPro.com. Focusing predominantly on US equities and ETFs, his systematic approach of identifying trend, finding signals within the trend, and setting key price levels has made him an esteemed market technician. Arthur has written articles for numerous financial publications including Barrons and Stocks & Commodities Magazine. In addition to his Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation, he holds an MBA from the Cass Business School at City University in London. Learn More