Cup and Handle Pattern

Most of the major indexes formed a potential cup and handle pattern from Feb. 22 2011, when the top of the left side of the cup was formed, to April 7 2011 when the top of the right side of the cup was formed. On the DJ Industrials, the left high side of the cup reading was 12,391 and on the right high side of the cup the number was 12,450. The low point of the handle came in at 12,200 on a closing basis. On April 20 The DJI rallied 187 points, after advancing 65 points on April 19. If the DJI can decisively move, on a closing basis, above today's closing peak of 12,453 with no more than a nominal loss intervening, it will have successfully broken out above the cup and handle pattern and be in technical condition to move significantly higher. According to the Stockcharts.com tutorial on the William O'Neill Co. (Investor's Bus. Daily, Daily Graphs) tool on the subject, the price target would be about 13,350 before another pattern needed to materialize. I haven't read the Investor's Business Daily for a few years, so they might have recently covered the current technical situation with a cup and handle analysis. You can find the StockCharts.com tutorial at this web address: http://stockcharts.com/help/doku.php?id=chart_school:chart_analysis:chart_patterns:cup_with_handle_cont. You can view the Dow Jones Industrial chart at Stockcharts.com on the Market Summary page.
    Volume on April 20 was above its 60-day exponential moving average. I consider this quite positive in view of the fact that this mini-bull has advanced on unimpressive volume since its inception on March 10, 2009. But it does need to break out decisively above the C & H pattern if we are to be spared another indefinite period of uncertainty with its attendant hand-wringing.