Aggressive action by the Federal Reserve today pushed most markets above their respective simple 50 day moving averages for the first time since September. We have highlighted the 50 day as resistance level number one in prior notes and have shown it to be critical resistance along with the 200 day and 80 week. This is a primary step to recovery and opens the door to a potential challenge of the 200 day near the beginning of 2009.
A rally to the 200 day would be quite significant as the recent violent plunge has opened up a large gap over the 50 day. A similar test of the 200 day as resistance came in early 2002, though the gap was not as dramatic, because the market did not fall to such lows as quickly as this year.
See the charts for the major averages below, with the 50 day moving average in blue and the 200 day in red:
North Coast Investment Research 