From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting
If you’ve been reading this blog you’ve probably noticed a lot of posts about the areas of the market showing relative strength, like Technology and Consumer Discretionary, however, one industry not getting as much attention is Airlines. The reason for that is simple; the Dow Jones Transportation Index is sitting roughly 3% off all-time highs within a strong uptrend, however, Airlines continue to struggle to gain any altitude, sitting at 52-week lows on an absolute basis and crashing on a relative basis.
The chart below is daily chart of the NYSE Arca Airlines Index – $XAL. For the last 1.5 years we’ve made absolutely no progress and continues to chop around between 103 and 124. This chart is one we’d put in the “hot mess” category and steer clear of. While there may be opportunities on an absolute basis in individual stocks, or opportunity for range traders in the index, there’s often tremendous opportunity cost sitting in markets like this that just aren’t trending.
Click on chart to enlarge view.
With that said, the charts that I think speak volumes about Airlines are the ones on a relative basis.