From breakdown to breakout? I am talking about stocks like Starbucks (SBUX), pennies off its high, Amazon (AMZN), still dollars away but getting there, and Apple (AAPL), which is climbing a wall of valuation non-worry that makes me think it is possible. Or how about Deckers (DECK), a dollar away from a breakout and sailing ever higher?
Right now, the breakouts are few and far between. Ross Stores (ROST), Dollar General (DG) and Dollar Tree (DLTR) are hitting 52-week highs, and that's terrific, although the statement they make is one of the de-middle-classification of America.
But the tone of this market will change if that list widens.
Earlier I wrote of how we are range-bound, but one of the more impressive aspects of this assault on the top end of the range is that there are standouts, actual stocks doing better than the market and not being pulled down by the relentless futures pressure.
I think that the more stocks that hit the 52-week high list, the more people won't think of this as a bear market and think of it more as a market where when you have good growth you can triumph, and when you don't, you won't.
That's quite a change from just a few weeks ago, when the only stocks hitting new highs were the highest yielders that do best in the ugliest of times.
Something to watch.
Too early to draw conclusions, but hopeful nonetheless.
