Most, if not all of the charts on the Live Chart Links page are up to date including this AAPL (Apple Inc) daily chart. Thursday (Dec 5th) was an interesting trading day for AAPL. The stock just managed to break out to a new 52-week high as it took out the Dec 4th, 2012 high, but still fell shy of the Dec 3rd, 2012 high… interesting time symmetry. What I also find interesting is that AAPL was stopped cold at the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of it’s previous bear market (when using prices adjusted for dividends). The 61.8% retracement level when using the unadjusted stock price lies about another 8 points or 1.4% above Thursday’s highs, another potential resistance level to watch should AAPL make another thrust higher.
Essentially, prices have been wedging higher while most indicators and oscillators diverge over the last several months. Since those bearish divergences began forming in mid-late August, AAPL has registered two separate clusters of overbought or very near overbought readings on the RSI (see red arrows on chart for the history of price action following such readings). The previous cluster of overbought readings which came with the second lower reading on Sept 9 was immediately followed by a 13% plunge in the stock. The second and most recent overbought cluster has just occurred with the sell “trigger” coming on Friday’s RSI cross back below the 70 level. Finally, keep an eye on the CMF (Chaikin Money Flow) which I’ve added to the top of the chart. Historically, the CMF has cross from positive to negative territory in the very early stages of significant corrections in Apple. Barring an immediate and sustained move higher in the stock, the CMF will likely move solidly into negative territory over the next several trading sessions.