Round Number Obstacles:
As my readers know I am a big proponent of round number theory. Instruments whether individual stocks or indexes will often pause there, or bounce, especially if the area is one of former significance. The WEEKLY chart below of the Nasdaq shows it stalling at the very round 15000 number which it did just a couple of weeks back. Will the second time around prove to show more confidence? Time will tell, but one has to respect the successful retest of the WEEKLY cup with handle breakout, and bears will point out the spinning top from 2 weeks back CLOSING just 11 handles above 15000 creating a bit of indecision and leaving it up for both bulls and bears to capitalize. Here one has to give the edge to the bulls with the Nasdaq uptrend firmly in place. Talking about round number theory it is no coincidence that AAPL was repelled by the 200 figure with a long spinning top candle on and then a doji the very next session for good measure. Keep in mind there is nothing worse than a breakout (above the bull flag in early December) that fails very quickly. We know the best ones tend to work right away POST breakout so this is a red flag. But if this influential stock, worlds largest market cap, can get its act together from here that could provide some fuel for a potential extension to the tech run we witnessed in Q4.