The Market Is Undecided: PreMarket Prep Recap For April 16

After a historic drop followed by a whiplash-inducing rally, the market has found itself hanging out around the midpoint between February’s all-time highs and the recent low of March 23. That presents a challenge for traders trying to gauge market sentiment, as the smaller trading ranges over the past few days indicate that the market is undecided which direction it wants to go.

“We are still battling around the 50% retracement between the bulls and the bears,” said PreMarket Prep co-host Dennis Dick on Thursday’s show. “I’m still skeptical because I still think there’s a lot of bad news to come here yet. But the market is holding up.”

Co-host Joel Elconin added that we do not necessarily need to rip higher or break lower, and that with the daily trading ranges coming down he wouldn’t be surprised to see a longer period of consolidation.

“Long consolidations lead to longer-term moves,” he said.

Marc Chaikin, founder of research platform Chaikin Analytics, also joined the show to give his thoughts on the overall market, as well as names like Zoom Communications ZM, Costco Wholesale Corporation COST, Citigroup C and JP Morgan Chase & Co JPM.

Overall, Chaikin is of the opinion that the market and broader economy are not going to suddenly bounce back.

“I’m still a glass half empty guy because of all the uncertainties,” he said. “To me this is a momentum market similar to 1999-2000 in that people are looking at it as a glass half full. They’re looking past the numbers of 2020 and assuming things are going to go back to the way they were. I just think the return to normalcy is going to take a lot longer.”

Featured Guests

Marc Chaikin, Founder of Chaikin Analytics

After 40 years on Wall Street as a trader, stockbroker, analyst, and options trader, Marc founded Chaikin Analytics to deliver proven analytics to investors and traders, based on the Chaikin Power Gauge, a 20-factor alpha model proven effective at identifying a stock’s potential. Chaikin pioneered the 1st real-time analytics workstation for portfolio managers and stock traders, now part of Thomson Reuters’ institutional workstation, and developed computerized stock selection models and technical indicators, including Chaikin Money Flow, which are industry standards.

Marc’s full interview can be viewed at 17:36 in the video below or by clicking here.

Watch the full show or listen to the podcast below.

PreMarket Prep is a daily trading show hosted by prop trader Dennis Dick and former floor trader Joel Elconin. You can watch PreMarket Prep live every day from 8-9 a.m. ET here. The replay can be found on Benzinga's YouTube channel, and the podcast is on iTunes, Google Play, Soundcloud, Stitcher and Tunein.

Meet the Hosts:

Dennis Dick
Joel Elconin

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