A reported sharp rise in retail sales last month was credited with spurring a 100-point Dow rally yesterday, but charts that actually track retail activity in the U.S. suggest a mixed picture at best. Notice that PowerShares’ Dynamic Retail Index has generated ‘dueling impulse legs’ on the daily chart and that the current downtrend has at least somewhat further to go before we might expect a bounce. I’ve set screen alerts above and below current levels, since whichever is touched first could signal, respectively, a bullish or bearish outcome for the holiday shopping season.
