Technical Analysts Discuss A Potential Fall to 6,000 On The DJIA

Some leading technical analysts are continuing to be worried about the major indexes potentially falling another 30 percent. Ralph Acampora believes that if the DJIA falls below the low of 7,552.29 it reached on November 20, that it could fall further to 6,000 (see Bloomberg article). John Murphy also believes that the November lows represent "a very, very significant area," since this is near the point where the market began to recover when the bear market ended in 2003. If we are to break these levels, the trend is expected to become very negative. Recent market action has not been encouraging. Louise Yamada expressed similar concern during an appearance on Fast Money late last year, where she also expressed concern that the DJIA could fall to 6,000. She had successfully predicted before the recent sell-off that the Dow could fall to the 8,000 range. Just last month, her website posted the following:

"The overall market picture still looks troubled. Both the S&P 500 and the DJIA have seen each recent rally (and potential bottom evidence) fail at a slightly lower peak. This progression of lower highs is evidence of supply -- price cannot rise to a slightly higher level because supply is being sold into the rally. ...... The recent pattern of sellers entering into each rally is characteristic of a downtrend, i.e., the failure of the rallies to get above the prior peak. In the study of supply and demand, which is the basis of technical analysis, this pattern represents aggressive supply. Contrarily, in a bottoming process or in an uptrend, higher lows are followed by higher highs, representing aggressive demand. .... Now, however, there is a confluence of sectors rolling over together, which is problematic. The majority of stocks are showing topping patterns."

Technicals are never the whole story, but they certainly help you to know where you have been, and how much trouble you may have getting to where you want to go. The data is certainly not encouraging for the bulls.