A major rally target at 283.97 has served us well as a bullish lodestone, but it looks as though AAPL is about to take a detour. The target will remain valid as long as the stock doesn’t plunge below 142.00 (!), but more immediately sellers appear eager to push AAPL to the 257.23 target shown. We should plan to leverage a tradeable bounce from that Hidden Pivot, but as always, if so compelling a support is easily breached, that would spell more trouble for bulls. Because AAPL is the key bellwether for the bull market, this is an important concern. We need to get this one right, and that means, for starters, no longer insisting that the stock absolutely, positively, must achieve 283.97 before the fat lady sings. If buyers had popped it past p=212.99 on the first try, things would be different. But they didn’t, and even a second try on August 8 succumbed to gravity, requiring a running start for a third attempt that finally succeeded. This hesitation should put us on our guard, ready to accept any technical evidence that suggests the record high at 268.00 recorded last week will stand for a long time.
AAPL – Apple Computer (Last:251.78)