For the entire month of March and into early April it looked like semiconductors were trying to tell us something about their usually leading indicator ability, at least as it relates to ends of cyclical bull markets. All of that changed however, and not when Texas Instruments (TXN) announced the acquisition of National Semiconductor in early April, but last week on April 19 when Intel (INTC) announced its earnings and rallied strongly.
I continue to think that if semiconductors can keep it together here it acts at least as some additional tail wind for the bulls.
The chart of Intel has some of the characteristics priced by the more technically oriented trader.
The weekly chart features a narrowing trading range that’s been in the making for twelve months on the low end, to three years on the long end, depending on how you look at it. Notable is the strong bounce off the lower support line (dotted light blue line) after last week’s earnings.
On the daily chart we see clear resistance just around $22, which has been in place for the better part of the past twelve months and has been tested four times. Last week’s blast off higher after earnings also put in a higher low, and if you look closely we could even throw in an inverse head and shoulders pattern for good measure.
