With proceeds from a recent sale of Con Ed, my old pal Zane B., whose thoughts have been featured on this site before, is looking to buy Southern Co. for its 5% dividend and appreciation potential.  He asked for my opinion about the utility stocks in general, noting that “the interest rate card seems to say ‘OK to buy’ now no matter what the Fed does.”  I responded to his query as follows:   The Utility Average looks like it’s in the same secular bear market as the broad averages. However, within the bear rally that has unfolded since March, the short-term outlook appears moderately favorable given that the most recent thrust — from the 353 low on July 2 — created a bullish impulse leg of daily-chart degree.  If you want to buy it, though, or use it to signal when to jump on a component stock, you should wait until the retracement from mid-August’s high, 398.98, has had more time to develop. It has come down so far to a low of 381.43, but a further correction to at least 378.64 is needed before this vehicle can be considered full recharged for another leg up. The “booster” thrust signaling this would need to be at least 11.37 points from some bottom below 378.65. ________ UPDATE:  The rally took off without dipping down to our bid, so cancel the order.  FYI, if you had wanted to get long without having to wait for a pullback to our bid, you could have done so on the morning of Tuesday, August 31, around 11:15 EDT, using camouflage on the 3-minute chart. That’s the first place a bullish reversal was signaled.