Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) – Unusual Volume Stock in Focus

Technical analysis of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) stock

Technical analysis of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) stock includes study of technical indicators and past trends. For technical analysis of stock and trends here we employ the use of tools such as trading volume, Simple Moving averages, RSI (14), and ATR (14) to determine the future behavior of a stock. Much of this practice involves discovering the overall trend line of a stock’s movement. Technical analysis of stocks and trends has been used by serious traders for decades. Although it does not guarantee success and is not 100% accurate, it is still one of the two key methods of analyzing stock prices, along with fundamental analysis.

China’s trade imbalance with the U.S. worsened sharply in the 1st 3-months of the year, potentially adding fuel to the countries’ already heated trade dispute. China’s trade surplus with the U.S. reached $58.25B in the 1st quarter, up 19.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago, official data released Friday showed. The rise in the surplus with the U.S. contrasted with China’s overall trade surplus, which decreased nearly 20 percent from a year ago to $48.39B in the 1st quarter, according to Market Watch.

President Donald Trump wants to reduce the imbalance with Beijing by $100B. His administration plans to ratchet up the pressure on China by focusing on new tariffs and threatening to block Chinese technology investment in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The administration has proposed tariffs on $50B in Chinese goods and threatened to go after $100B more.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) – Unusual Volume Activity on Thursday Watch List

On Thursday, 05, Shares of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) were valued at $93.58 and moved 1.87%. A total volume of 26.76 million shares were traded unusually versus to average volume of 35.31 million shares. Unusual volume shows something has likely happened in the stock–such as a news release or traders have become worried or euphoric about the stock’s potential. A volume “spike” where volume is way more than normal–5 to 10 times (or more) average volume (for that time or period) for example–could indicate the end of a trend. These are called exhaustion moves because typically when so many shares change hands there is no one left to keep pushing the price in the trending direction and it reverses (often quickly).

If you are going to be trading the stock, you want to ensure volume is healthy so you are not stuck in a position. Volumes indicate how many shares are bought and sold over a given period of time. The more active the share, higher would be its volume. Technical analysts believe that volume can serve as a warning signal as to whether a stock is on the verge of breaking into upside territory (high volume) or into a downside trend (low volume). Low volume of a security, even if it’s rising in price, can indicate a lack of conviction among investors. Conversely, high volume of a particular security can indicate that traders are placing their long-term confidence in the investment. Volume is incredibly important to traders. Without volume, it becomes more difficult to buy or sell securities when you want to, and at the price you want.

Investors are optimistic that a pickup in corporate acquisitions stands to support the volatile U.S. stock market, and does not represent a worrisome cyclical sign. Global mergers and acquisitions have had their strongest start to a year ever, according to data from Thomson Reuters Deals Intelligence. The $1.23 trillion in 1st-quarter global deal-making came in just shy of the $1.31 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2015, which on a 3 month basis marked a multi-year high, according to Reuters. However, heightened deal-making could be an ominous signal, if it suggests companies are desperate to find growth as the economic expansion winds down, or if it indicates a euphoria echoed among stock investors. For example, global M&A on a 3 month basis hit multi-year peaks in 2000 and in 2007, preceding sustained stock market declines.

Simple Moving averages

Chart patterns can be difficult to read given the volatility in price movements of MSFT. Moving averages can help smooth out these erratic movements by removing day-to-day fluctuations and make trends easier to spot. Since they take the average of past price movements, moving averages are better for accurately reading past price movements rather than predicting future past movements. We have taken technical analysis of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)’s stock recent trading price and 3 moving average price of updated past trading days (20, 50 and 200). It shows a stock price recent trends and movement that can help investor and traders in trading. Moving average is popular technical tool and can be customized to any time frame, suiting both long term investors and short-term traders.

In terms of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) stock price comparison to its moving averages, shares of company are 1.64% away from the 50-day moving average and 2.23% away from 20-day average. If we take a long term observation, shares have been trading at a distance of 13.96% from the 200-day moving average. Moving averages are used as a strong indicator for technical stock analysis and it helps investors in figuring out where the stock has been and also facilitate in determining where it may be possibly heading. There can be no complete understanding of moving averages without an understanding of trends. A trend is simply a price that is continuing to move in a certain direction. There are only three real trends that a security can follow: (1) An uptrend, or bullish trend, means that the price is moving higher. (2) A downtrend, or bearish trend, means the price is moving lower. . (3) A sideways trend, where the price is moving sideways. The important thing to remember about trends is that prices rarely move in a straight line. Therefore, moving-average lines are used to help a trader more easily identify the direction of the trend.

52 week High and Low

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) shares have been seen trading -3.76% off its 52 week- peak value and changed 44.21% from its 52 week-bottom price value. The “percentage off the 52-week high or low” refers to when a stock current price is relative to where it has traded over the last 52 weeks. This gives investors an idea of how much the security has moved in the last year and whether it is trading near the top, middle or bottom of the range.

Relative Strength Index (RSI)

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) is 55.03. RSI is a technical indicator of price momentum, comparing the size of recent gains to the size of recent losses and establishes oversold and overbought positions. Technical analysts have little regard for the value of a company. They use historic price data to observe stock price patterns to predict the direction of that price going forward. Analysts use common formulas and ratios to accomplish this. The Relative Strength Index (RSI), developed by J. Welles Wilder, is a momentum oscillator that measures the speed and change of price movements. The RSI oscillates between 0 and 100. A value between 0 and 30 is considered oversold; hence the trader should look at buying opportunities. A value between 70 and 100 is considered overbought; hence the trader should look at selling opportunities.

Performance

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) held 7.88 billion outstanding shares currently. The company have shares float of 7.59 billion. Now have a look at past performance (weekly performance to year to date performance) how Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) has been moved; whether it performed well or not. MSFT reported a change of 1.30% over the last week and performed -0.88% over the last month while its year to date (YTD) performance revealed an activity trend of 9.40%. The stock’s quarterly performance specifies a shift of 6.56%, and its last twelve month performance is stands at 42.91% while moved 22.66% for the past six months.

Volatility

Average True Range (14) for Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is stands at 2.70. ATR is a volatility indicator. Volatility measures the strength of the price action, and is often overlooked for clues on market direction. The ATR is fairly simple to calculate and only needs historical price data. Simply a stock experiencing a high level of volatility has a higher ATR, and a low volatility stock has a lower ATR. The ATR may be used by market technicians to enter and exit trades, and it is a useful tool to add to a trading system. It was created to allow traders to more accurately measure the daily volatility of an asset by using simple calculations. The indicator does not indicate the price direction, rather it is used primarily to measure volatility caused by gaps and limit up or down moves. Typically, the Average True Range (ATR) is based on 14 periods.

Over the past week, the company showed volatility of 2.36%. Moving out to look at the previous month volatility move, the stock is at 2.89%. A stock with a price that fluctuates wildly, hits new highs and lows or moves erratically is considered highly volatile. A stock that maintains a relatively stable price has low volatility. A highly volatile stock is inherently riskier, but that risk cuts both ways. When investing in a volatile security, the risk of success is increased just as much as the risk of failure. For this reason, many traders with a high risk tolerance look to multiple measures of volatility to help inform their trade strategies. When selecting a security for investment, traders look at its historical volatility to help determine the relative risk of a potential trade. There are numerous metrics that measure volatility in differing contexts, and each trader has favorites. Regardless of which metric you utilize, a firm understanding of the concept of volatility and how it is measured is essential to successful investing. Simply put, volatility is a reflection of the degree to which price moves.

Beta measures volatility or systematic risk, of a stock or a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole. 1 shows stock moves with market. < 1 means less volatile than market. > 1 indicates more volatile than the market. The stock’s beta is 1.04.

Analyst mean recommendation rating on a stock by the analyst community is at 1.80. Analyst rating score as published on FINVIZ are rated on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is equivalent to a buy rating, 3 a hold rating, and 5 a sell rating.

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