The biggest questions to ask are 1) what makes these stock charts strong? and 2) what does it mean going forward?  ChartLabPro.com’s algorithms use a quantitative approach that aim to forecast patterns by identifying consistent investment themes. The methodology uses over 200 indicators and scores them to locate trends in their early stages constantly running scenarios to locate inefficiencies and trends in stocks.  Only four of the ten strongest stock charts were in the top ten strongest charts last week.

The current chart shows the year-to-date gains, prices for support and resistance on each stock, as well as an indication of just how strong each 5-rating or “strong buy” on a short-term trend.  The strongest stock charts are never based solely on year-to-date performance but on more recent patterns.  This aims to put the longer-term trends into a better short-term picture for the more active traders out there. The top 10 names on average are up 25.78% year-to-date and up 1.57% month-to-date.  Compares that to the S&P 500 Index with gains of 8.2% year-to-date and a loss of -2.74% month-to-date.

You can click on the chart included here to open and expand it to a larger resolution for easier viewing.

The results here generate visual and contextual results for technical trading analysis and trading opportunities based upon custom criteria for investors.  You can try the Chartlabpro.com for 30 days using promo code Chartp2p8i.

You can also see the five strongest and five weakest technology sector stock charts from the S&P 500 Index here as of Friday.

The 5 strongest charts in the technology sector are as follows: Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI); VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN); Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); and salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM).  These strongest names are up 31.4% year to date against a 8% gain for the S&P 500 Index.

The 5 weakest charts in the technology sector are currently the following: First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ: WIN); and Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: FTR).  These weakest names are down 22.5% year to date and down almost 10% so far in April.

If you click on the chart and open it the chart can expand on your screen for a larger resolution for easier viewing.

The methodology here generates visual and contextual results for technical trading analysis and trading opportunities based upon custom criteria for investors.  You can try the Chartlabpro.com for 30 days using promo code Chartp2p8i.

In this chart using the ChartLab Pro methodology we are showing the top 5 strongest and weakest energy stocks based on the close of April 16th.  Cumulatively the top 5 names have outperformed the weakest 5 year to date by 28.92% and 12.79% Month to date.   The rankings are not picked by the stocks returns, they are chosen by their technical strength under the ChartLab Pro methodology.

The 5 strongest charts in the energy sector are Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB), El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP), Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), and Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE: DO).

The 5 weakest charts in the energy Baker Hughes, Inc. (NYSE: BHI), Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK), Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG), Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN), and Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE: NFX).

The infographic below is generated by Chartlabpro.com.

The following stocks have exhibited the strongest chart patterns: AutoZone Inc. (AZO); Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG); The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD); Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC); Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG); Philip Morris International, Inc. (NYSE: PM); Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT); Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE); Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (NYSE: UNH); and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM).

These names year to date have outperformed the S&P 500 by 12.92%.  During the month of April these particular stocks have risen an average of 0.66% while the S&P 500 has actually fallen by a rate of -3.31%.

As always, past performance is not indicative of future results.  These results for the strongest names are updated daily and stronger names do rotate daily into the composite of the top 10.

Currently the 10 stocks featured this week are not technically overbought, but they are approaching a overbought condition according to the methodology used by the Chartlabpro.com model.

The methodology from chartlabpro.com shows that a 5 rating is considered a Strong Buy and conversely a 1 is a Strong Sell.  As a reminder, Chipotle, Intel, Philip Morris International, and Unitedhealth Group are due to report quarterly earnings in the coming days.

Featured exclusively for 24/7 Wall St. by ChartLabPro.com.

To keep things consistent, we evaluated the trading day after February 28 of each year and we looked simply at the price change on the Dow Jones Industrial Average on February 29 or the following day if February 29 took place on a weekend.  We evaluated each Leap Year going all the way back to 1960 to get 13 different Leap Year comparisons.  Of these 13 cycles, only 2 of the trading days had a price change of more than 2% (2008 and 1988) and only one more Leap Day (1980) had a price change of 1%.

The two big standouts were in 2008 and in 1988, and both seem easy enough to explain fundamentally.  In the weeks before Leap Day of 2008, the DJIA had fallen from 14,000 in late 2007 to about 12,000 by early 2008.  The recession was just gathering steam and ultimately the market was almost cut in half yet again over the following 11 months.  If you think back to 1988, the market was just recovering from Black Monday in October 1987 when the DJIA fell 507 points or 22.6% in a single trading day.

What is interesting is that there really appears to be a lack of volatility outside of the two ‘exceptional Leap Years’ going all the way back to 1960.  The correlation through time back to 1960 is that 5 of the 13 trading sessions in Leap Years ended up as losing days on Leap Day or the day after the Feb. 28 trading day.  That translates to a 61.5% chance that the DJIA would be up on the Leap Day trading.  If you took only the trailing ten Leap Years, there is a 70% chance that the DJIA would close higher.

After tallying up every Leap Year and not excluding the outlier years, the average comes to a gain of only 0.19% on Leap Day.  One other consistency for the DJIA on Leap Day is that going back to 1960 there have not been two Leap Day losses in a row.  Does that assure a small gain for investors who buy the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) on February 29, 2012 if they bought at the close of February 28, 2012? If it does, the move is likely too small to merit much of a statistical bet when you consider commissions.

Here are the trading days accounting for the Leap Days going back to 1960 and it shows the closing prices and the gain or loss on each:

Feb 29, 2008.. 12,266.39 for a loss of -2.50%
Feb 28, 2008.. 12,582.18

Mar 01, 2004.. 10,678.14 for a gain of 0.89%
Feb 27, 2004.. 10,583.92

Feb 29, 2000.. 10,128.31 for a gain of 0.89%
Feb 28, 2000.. 10,038.65

Feb 29, 1996.. 5,485.62 for a loss of -0.37%
Feb 28, 1996.. 5,506.21

Mar 02, 1992.. 3,275.27 for a gain of 0.23%
Feb 28, 1992.. 3,267.67

Feb 29, 1988.. 2,071.62 for a gain of 2.39%
Feb 26, 1988.. 2,023.21

Feb 29, 1984.. 1,154.63 for a loss of -0.21%
Feb 28, 1984.. 1,157.14

Feb 29, 1980.. 863.14 for a gain of 1.01%
Feb 28, 1980.. 854.44

Mar 01, 1976.. 975.36 for a gain of 0.28%
Feb 27, 1976.. 972.61

Feb 29, 1972.. 928.13 for a gain of 0.41%
Feb 28, 1972.. 924.29

Feb 29, 1968.. 840.50 for a loss of -0.49%
Feb 28, 1968.. 844.72

Mar 02, 1964.. 802.75 for a 0.32% gain
Feb 28, 1964.. 800.14

Feb 29, 1960.. 630.12 for a loss of -0.29%
Feb 26, 1960.. 632.00

JON C. OGG

DJIA closing prices from Yahoo! Finance.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) hit a new high this morning ahead of next week’s earnings.  The new value is almost at $400 billion.  The new high is $428.50 for now and the consensus price target from Thomson Reuters is now above $509.00.

Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) is continuing with the trade-down economy and the secular growth of the dollar store (actually sub-$10) stores.  The new high is $85.58 and the consensus price target is $86.27 from Thomson Reuters.  Dollar Tree is now worth more than $10 billion in market capitalization.

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) is worth almost $14 billion now, and the new high today of $60.45 compares to a Thomson Reuters consensus price target of $61.56.

Read Also: Top 2012 Stock Picks From Major Gurus

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) gave solid same-store sales forecast and recently juiced up its dividend.  The new high is $101.87 and the market cap is nearing $104 billion.

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) recently announced a stock split and shares hit a new high this morning but have promptly backed off by close to 2%.  The new high is $101.67 and the consensus analyst target is close to $105.00.  It is hard to imagine, but Monster now has a market value of almost $8.7 billion.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) keeps doing it.  A new high of $100.75 was put in today after a prior 52-week high of $99.44.  Its market value now eclipses $46 billion.

Panera Bread Company (NASDAQ: PNRA) is up at stratosphere levels now for its healthier sandwich and destination approach.  The new high is $151.93 and the consensus price target from Thomson Reuters is $146.68.  Its market cap is now almost $4.5 billion.

Read Also: DJIA Projected 12% Gains to 13,678 in 2012

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) has proven us very wrong on how high the valuation can go back up to.  The new high is $48.15 and the consensus price target from Thomson Reuters is just under $48.00 and the market cap is now more than $35 billion.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) worth over $5 billion, AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE: AZO) worth over $13 billion, and O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY) worth over $10 billion… These all hit record high prices in their stocks on Wednesday. With a record age car fleet in America of more than 10 years, car parts stores and suppliers sure are going to have a lot of car owners to sell parts to that are long past the warranty and insurance coverage.

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JON C. OGG

After taking a look at the “GLD” chart the concerns are growing.  Since its major move at the end of 2008 there had not been a single time that the SPDR Gold Trust shares had violated the key 200-day moving average.  If you look at the mining ETF via the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX), the gold bulls may argue that the mining sector violated the 200-day moving average on multiple occasions and still traded higher!  Some technicians may watch other metrics on the GLD for long-term trends but many will fear that this means that the monstrous run higher at a minimum cannot recover at the same pace.  Other technicians may argue that gold has peaked outright, just like Dennis Gartman has raised concern about recently.

It is at least somewhat interesting that Goldman Sachs recently lowered the ratings of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) as well as Randgold Resources Limited (NASDAQ: GOLD) this morning, both were downgraded to “Sell” from an already cautious “Neutral” rating. AngloGold is somehow up almost 1% at $41.52 today and Rangold is down 0.3% at $101.50.  Meanwhile, Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX) was recently raised to “Sector Outperform” from “Sector Perform” by Scotia Capital.

What is so confusing for many gold bugs and investors alike is that the news headlines would make you think that gold has everything going for it.  Iran flexing its muscle… The Euro Zone debt crisis… The possibility that the Euro disappears or is altered… Sovereign debt credit rating downgrades… China’s central bank buying gold… Uncertainty… and more.  It is the rise of the U.S. Dollar again that is capping gold’s positive aspects.  Besides that, gold reached the point that many market participants just cannot afford to use the metal for anything now. 

If you go back to the “GLD” as the measurement for most spot gold investors today, that would be $157.36 as to where the 200-day moving average is now versus $154.90 after a 0.2% drop today.  The “GLD” chart below from stockcharts.com shows a 3-year history for our readers.

JON C. OGG

We asked our technical affiliate Candlestick Forum for a chart reading on the crazy silver… The Devil’s Metal.  “Silver has slowly moved back up and just ran into resistance at the 50 day moving average. A Doji, followed by bearish confirmation at the 50 day moving average, indicates a wave three to the downside could take silver prices down into the $22 area if the run goes to the most extreme band. The 20 day moving average at the $33.25 level will be an important support level that needs to be breached for prices to move to much lower levels.”

While that call is only an “if, then” and offers only the most extreme band, the current silver price needs to be watched closely because there may be much larger downside price risks in the devil’s metal if it cannot recover from the current levels. Watch these moving averages…

Our own take is rather simple.  Gold is trying to find its footing again but it has an identity crisis.  It is not trading every day like a reserve currency now as international investors are choosing to buy dollars again on days when they get scared about sovereign risks in Europe.  Other days it trades like an equity-based asset class no different from cyclical stocks.  We expect a resolution over the next week or so to determine where gold is ultimately going.

Tracking the CurrencyShares Euro Trust (NYSE: FXE) is easy for the currency relationship between the Euro and the U.S. Dollar.  As far as the future of reserve currencies, our poll this week is now over but the indication is that the Euro in some form or fashion is toast.  Only 14% of our respondents answered “the Euro is here to stay as it is today” and the rest of the responses can be seen here.

If the Euro slides, it is going to be harder for gold to maintain that reserve currency status that it was exhibiting before.  It is hard to imagine that the dollar may be king again.

JON C. OGG

iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSE: VXX) is up 5.6% at $56.40 and the iPath S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN (NYSE: VXZ) is up 2.9% at $75.33.  These ETF prices are both higher than at the peak of selling you see on the actual VIX index chart because of how they trade with futures.

Technicians and technical analysts try to not look at anything other than the charts and the internal market statistics.  Fundamental investors are smart to at least take note of what the charts are saying, but they try to look at what the economic and company fundamentals are going to be in the next quarter to next year.  Right now the market is at a point where the technicians are in charge on the downside when the fundamentalists cannot agree whether or not we are entering (or have already entered) the next (or double dip) recession.

As you will see, here is the current VIX chart going back three years to show the S&P 500 SPDR (NYSE: SPY) after that.

JON C. OGG

August was very painful, even if the markets recovered from the lows. The DJIA was down about 4.5% and the S&P 500 fell by almost 5.7%; the tech-heavy NASDAQ fell by 6.4%.  The Stock Trader’s Almanac shows that September is more often than not a jinxed month for stocks as traditionally the worst month on the calendar for stocks.

On average since 1950, there is a 0.9% drop in the DJIA.  The worst September was in the weak economy of 2002, when the DJIA fell almost 12.5%.  The U.S. was about to attack Iraq and was still recovering from the economic turmoil after the terror attacks of the prior year.  Oil had gone from under $20 a barrel to nearly $30 and gold had moved up from $280 per ounce to $320 per ounce.  The good news, if there is good news… Stock Trader’s Almanac shows that pre-election Septembers are down “only” 0.6%.

The best September for the DJIA is said to be back in 1954, but the September weakness barometer was way off last year in 2010 and it was also off in 2009.  Isn’t it October that investors worry about the big market crashes?

However, in pre-election years, such as this one, the Dow industrial average is down only 0.6 percent in the average September.  So, what is in store for 2011′s September?  The DJIA closed August out at 11,613.53 and the DJIA was under 11,250 on Friday morning after the dismal employment data was released.  Does that mean that the bad news is already priced in or does that mean that the pain is only just beginning?

So, what is store for DJIA stocks?  Here is a quick hit on some of the key pivots for the DJIA (NYSE: DIA) today looking into the rest of September.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) just boosted its dividend this week, a commitment that earnings should remain steady and high for years and years.  While the market has grown to expect dividend hikes, we were not as certain that a dividend hike would come.   This now puts pressure for AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) to also hike its dividend later this year even if it does face a multi-billion break-up fee if that DOJ-blocked acquisition of T-Mobile stays a blocked deal.