Charting a successful technical test, S&P 500 nails the breakout point The Technical Indicator

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Slightly more broadly, the small- and mid-caps have asserted tandem bull flags, digesting breaks to less-charted territory. Constructive price action.

Looking elsewhere, the SPDR Trust S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/209901640/composite SPY -2.44% is digesting a rally to one-month highs.

The mid-October peak marked the SPY’s third-best close on record, and has been punctuated by a comparably flat downturn.

On a granular note, consider that last week’s rallies (Monday and Friday) registered amid increased volume, and have been punctuated by lighter-volume pullbacks. Constructive price action.

Placing a finer point on the S&P 500, the index has nailed its first notable support.

To reiterate, Monday’s close (3,427) matched the breakout point (3,428) to punctuate a successful initial retest.

Separately, recall that the mid-month gap (3,482) marks notable overhead, a level closely matching consecutive session closes, including the weekly close (3,483).

More broadly, the S&P 500’s mid-month pullback remains flattish to punctuate an initially sharp two standard deviation breakout, encompassing a single close atop the 20-day Bollinger bands.

The “expected” consolidation phase, or cooling-off period, remains underway.

As detailed repeatedly, the S&P’s first significant support (3,428) is followed by the 50-day moving average, currently 3,403, and the former breakout point (3,393).

Delving deeper, likely last-ditch support (3,328) matches the late-September gap, an area from which the steep October rally originates. The S&P 500’s intermediate-term bias remains bullish barring a violation.

Also see: Bull trend strengthens: S&P 500, Nasdaq clear 20-day volatility bands.

Tuesday’s Watch List

The charts below detail names that are technically well positioned. These are radar screen names — sectors or stocks poised to move in the near term. For the original comments on the stocks below, see The Technical Indicator Library.

Drilling down further, the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF /zigman2/quotes/200571902/composite SMH -4.88% is acting well technically.

Earlier this month, the group reached record territory, clearing resistance matching the September peak.

The subsequent pullback has been comparably flat, placing the group near the breakout point (184.60) and 2.9% under the October peak.

Delving deeper, the former range top (174.75) closely matches the 50-day moving average, currently 174.90. A sustained posture higher signals a comfortably bullish bias.

Moving to specific names, Micron Technology, Inc. /zigman2/quotes/205710729/composite MU -5.56% is a well positioned large-cap semiconductor name.

Technically, the shares have rallied to the range top, rising to challenge four-month highs. The chart illustrates a head-and-shoulders bottom defined by the late-June, August and October lows.

More immediately, the prevailing upturn punctuates a tight one-week range — amid tandem volume spikes — laying the groundwork for a potential breakout.

Tactically, a near-term floor closely matches gap support, circa 50.80, and is followed by the 200-day moving average, currently 49.15. A breakout attempt is in play barring a violation.

Initially profiled Aug. 10, Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. /zigman2/quotes/200215692/composite FCX -4.52% has returned 19.2% and remains well positioned.

Earlier this month, the shares rallied to the range top, rising to challenge two-year highs on increased volume. The subsequent tight range has formed amid decreased volume, signaling muted selling pressure near resistance.

Tactically, a near-term target projects to the 19.50 area on follow-through. Conversely, trendline support closely tracks the ascending 50-day moving average, currently 15.75. A sustained posture higher signals a bullish bias.

Note that the company’s quarterly results are due out Thursday, Oct. 22.

Chegg, Inc. /zigman2/quotes/205655041/composite CHGG -6.90% is a large-cap provider of online education solutions.

As illustrated, the shares have rallied to press record highs, territory matching the August peak.

Underlying the upturn, Chegg’s relative strength index (not illustrated) has recently notched its best levels since May, improving the chances of eventual follow-through.

Tactically, a near-term floor (81.90) closely matches the former range top and last week’s low. A breakout attempt is in play barring a violation.

Finally, Gogo, Inc. /zigman2/quotes/204349622/composite GOGO -5.89% is a small-cap provider of in-flight connectivity and wireless entertainment services.

The shares initially spiked seven weeks ago, rising after the company announced the sale of its commercial aviation business unit.

The subsequent range is a bullish continuation pattern, positioning the shares to build on the initial strong-volume spike. Tactically, the 20-day moving average, currently 9.95, has underpinned the recent range. The prevailing breakout attempt is intact barring a violation.

Editor’s Note: This is a free edition of The Technical Indicator, a daily MarketWatch subscriber newsletter. To get this column each market day, click here.

Still well positioned

The table below includes names recently profiled in The Technical Indicator that remain well positioned. For the original comments, see The Technical Indicator Library.

Company	Symbol* (Click symbol for chart.)	Date Profiled
Atlassian Corp.	TEAM	Oct. 19
Vulcan Materials Co.	VMC	Oct. 19
iRobot Corp.	IRBT	Oct. 19
Utilities Select Sector SPDR	XLU	Oct. 19
Northern Trust Co.	NTRS	Oct. 16
XPO Logistics, Inc.	XPO	Oct. 16
ON Semiconductor Corp.	ON	Oct. 16
Ford Motor Co.	F	Oct. 15
Texas Instruments, Inc.	TXN	Oct. 15
Skyworks Solutions, Inc.	SWKS	Oct. 14
International Business Machines Corp.	IBM	Oct. 14
CRISPR Therapeutics A.G.	CRSP	Oct. 14
Amazon.com, Inc.	AMZN	Oct. 13
First Solar, Inc.	FSLR	Oct. 13
Nevro Corp.	NVRO	Oct. 12
Teradyne, Inc.	TER	Oct. 12
SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF	XHB	Oct. 9
Broadcom, Inc.	AVGO	Oct. 9
STMicroelectronics N.V.	STM	Oct. 9
Shake Shack, Inc.	SHAK	Oct. 9
SPDR S&P Biotech ETF	XBI	Oct. 8
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	ALXN	Oct. 8
Twilio, Inc.	TWLO	Oct. 8
Cloudflare, Inc.	NET	Oct. 7
Ceridian HCM Holding, Inc.	CDAY	Oct. 7
Guess, Inc.	GES	Oct. 7
Gap, Inc.	GPS	Oct. 6
Motorola Solutions, Inc.	MSI	Oct. 6
Sunnova Energy International, Inc.	NOVA	Oct. 6
SBA Communications Corp.	SBAC	Oct. 5
Marvell Technology Group,Ltd.	MRVL	Oct. 5
Qorvo, Inc.	QRVO	Oct. 2
NCR Corp.	NCR	Oct. 2
LGI Homes, Inc.	LGIH	Oct. 2
SailPoint Technology Holdings, Inc.	SAIL	Oct. 1
Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.	MLM	Sept. 30
Whirlpool Corp.	WHR	Sept. 29
Abercrombie & Fitch Co.	ANF	Sept. 29
American Eagle Outfitters	AEO	Sept. 28
Twitter, Inc.	TWTR	Sept. 28
Blueprint Medicines Co.	BPMC	Sept. 28
Zendesk, Inc.	ZEN	Sept. 23
Datadog, Inc.	DDOG	Sept. 23
Scientific Games Corp.	SGMS	Sept. 23
Maxar Technologies, Inc.	MAXR	Sept. 18
V.F. Corp.	VFC	Sept. 14
Crocs, Inc.	CROX	Sept. 14
Five Below, Inc.	FIVE	Sept. 10
Dow Inc.	DOW	Sept. 10
Eastman Chemical Co.	EMN	Sept. 10
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.	CRWD	Sept. 9
Workhorse Group, Inc.	WKHS	Sept. 9
International Paper Co.	IP	Sept. 3
Anaplan, Inc.	PLAN	Sept. 2
Beyond Meat, Inc.	BYND	Sept. 1
Elastic N.V.	ESTC	Sept. 1
Medtronic	MDT	Aug. 28
Celanese Corp.	CE	Aug. 26
Norfolk Southern Corp.	NSC	Aug. 25
Westlake Chemical Corp.	WLK	Aug. 25
Deere & Co.	DE	Aug. 24
PulteGroup, Inc.	PHM	Aug. 24
Expedia Group, Inc.	EXPE	Aug. 24
Johnson Controls International	JCI	Aug. 21
Adobe, Inc.	ADBE	Aug. 20
Canadian Solar, Inc.	CSIQ	Aug. 20
General Motors Co.	GM	Aug. 20
Starbucks Corp.	SBUX	Aug. 18
Builders FirstSource, Inc.	BLDR	Aug. 18
Steel Dynamics, Inc.	STLD	Aug. 17
Elanco Animal Health, Inc.	ELAN	Aug. 17
Brinker International, Inc.	EAT	Aug. 13
Enphase Energy, Inc.	ENPH	Aug. 13
Nike, Inc.	NKE	Aug. 11
Nucor Corp.	NUE	Aug. 11
Freeport McMoRan, Inc.	FCX	Aug. 10
Natera, Inc.	NTRA	Aug. 10
Lennar Corp.	LEN	Aug. 7
McDonald’s Corp.	MCD	Aug. 7
Industrial Select Sector SPDR	XLI	Aug. 6
Sunrun, Inc.	RUN	Aug. 5
Penn National Gaming, Inc.	PENN	July 30
Procter & Gamble Co.	PG	July 29
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF	XME	July 28
iShares MSCI South Korea ETF	EWY	July 28
Toll Brothers, Inc.	TOL	July 27
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.	AMD	July 23
Best Buy Co., Inc.	BBY	July 22
Materials Select Sector SPDR	XLB	July 20
Caterpillar, Inc.	CAT	July 20
iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF	ITB	July 17
Progressive Corp.	PGR	July 17
Livongo Health, Inc.	LVGO	July 17
Roku, Inc.	ROKU	July 16
Cognizant Technology Solutions, Inc.	CTSH	July 16
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR	XLP	July 15
Home Depot, Inc.	HD	July 15
Costco Wholesale Corp.	COST	July 15
Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.	APD	July 14
Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR	XLY	July 13
SunPower Corp.	SPWR	July 13
Walmart, Inc.	WMT	July 8
Big Lots, Inc.	BIG	July 1
Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc.	TNDM	July 1
Dell Technologies, Inc.	DELL	June 30
Danaher Corp.	DHR	June 24
RH	RH	June 24
Lowe’s Companies	LOW	June 19
Fiverr International, Ltd.	FVRR	June 19
Etsy, Inc.	ETSY	June 17
HubSpot, Inc.	HUBS	June 8
Square, Inc.	SQ	June 8
United Parcel Service, Inc.	UPS	June 5
FedEx Corp.	FDX	June 3
SPDR S&P Retail ETF	XRT	June 3
iShares MSCI Japan ETF	EWJ	May 29
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.	SEDG	May 29
Synopsis, Inc.	SNPS	May 27
Agilent Technologies, Inc.	A	May 15
Qualcomm, Inc.	QCOM	May 12
Salesforce.com, Inc.	CRM	May 8
Facebook, Inc.	FB	May 7
Spotify Technology S.A.	SPOT	May 5
Dollar General Corp.	DG	Apr. 28
ServiceNow, Inc.	NOW	Apr. 27
Five9, Inc.	FIVN	Apr. 24
Chewy, Inc.	CHWY	Apr. 24
Tesla, Inc.	TSLA	Apr. 23
VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF	SMH	Apr. 17
Veeva Systems, Inc.	VEEV	Apr. 17
Okta, Inc.	OKTA	Apr. 16
Target Corp.	TGT	Apr. 16
Invesco QQQ Trust	QQQ	Apr. 14
DocuSign, Inc.	DOCU	Apr. 3
Zscaler, Inc.	ZS	Apr. 3
Apple, Inc.	AAPL	Mar. 27
Nvidia Corp.	NVDA	Mar. 27
Zoom Video Communications, Inc.	ZM	Mar. 19
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF	EEM	Mar. 19
SPDR Gold Shares ETF	GLD	Jan. 2
Microsoft Corp.	MSFT	Feb. 22
* Click each symbol for current chart.