For the second time in the space of a month the FTSE 250 has cracked below its 20-day moving average. The last time this occurred was early summer; then the index went on to spend a few weeks below this moving average, making a new lower low, before resuming the trend higher. br /br /a href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/Subcj5nlA5I/AAAAAAAABCY/YGpZ_jQiADA/s1600-h/Stock+Chart+a16.png”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 176px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/Subcj5nlA5I/AAAAAAAABCY/YGpZ_jQiADA/s320/Stock+Chart+a16.png” border=”0″ alt=”"id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397243712770474898″ //abr /span class=”fullpost”A similar event here should see a test of the 902.50 low -which was both an August reaction high and the early October reaction low – with the potential to drift down to 867 if a more protracted decline kicked in. Intermediate trends in the market tend to run between 3 weeks and 3 months with the current end-of-year a handy time scale for a flat/downward phase. br /br /A more serious decline (one lasting months) would require confirmation of a top with a test of October’s highs. This test could only emerge after a break of the prior March-October trend, with a sideways market shifting the focus from one of accumulation to one of distribution an important precursor to this test. br /br /Market tops rarely shape the sharp reactions of market bottoms because people tend to be more reluctant to sell (even when holding a loss) than buy. br /br /So setting a Zignals a href=”http://www.zignals.com/main/stock_alerts/try_stock_alerts.aspx”Stock Alert/a for XMCX at 902.50 and 867 will give heed as to possible trade opportunities with another at October highs to mark a resumption of the trend. br /br /Follow us on a href=”http://twitter.com/Zignals”twitter here/abr /br /script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://feeds.delicious.com/v2/js/Zignalsnews?title=My%20Delicious%20Bookmarksicon=mcount=5sort=datetagsextendednameshowadd”/scriptbr /br /span style=”font-size:80%; color:#cccccc;”Dr. Declan Fallon, Senior Market Technician, a href=”http://www.zignals.com”Zignals.com/a the free a href=”http://www.zignals.com/main/stock_alerts/try_stock_alerts.aspx”stock alerts/a, a href=”http://www.zignals.com/main/stock_alerts/try_stock_alerts.aspx”market alerts/a, a href=”http://www.zignals.com/main/stock_charts/try_stock_charts.aspx”stock charts/a, a href=”http://www.zignals.com/main/stock_screener/try_stock_screener.aspx”stock screener/a and a href=”http://www.zignals.com/main/portfolio_manager/try_portfolio_manager.aspx”stock portfolio manager/a website /span/spandiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3415040392614486358-7100978211515251964?l=zignalsblog.blogspot.com’//div

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