Shares of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) are little changed Monday despite news that rivals Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE:HMC) and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (OTC:NSANY) are discussing a merger.
This would create the world's third-largest automaker.
It is not clear how this would affect the long-term prospects of GM. But in the short term, the recent downtrend may be over. The stage may be set for a rally. This is why we have made it our Stock of the Day.
Some analysts believe that markets are efficient and stocks follow a 'random walk'. They are wrong. If the markets were random, all price levels would have equal importance. Clearly, that's not the case in the markets.
As you can see on the chart below, the $50.00 level has been important for GM since August. It was well-defined resistance and now it has converted into a support level.
From a traditional fundamental analysis point of view, there is no reason why a stock should turn when it reaches a round level like GM did. But from a technical analysis perspective, the reason why is clear. It is because of investor and trader psychology.
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People like to place orders at nice round levels, and that is what happened here.
In addition, there is support at the $50.00 level because it had been resistance. In the financial markets support forming at levels that were previously resistance is a common occurrence. It also is because of investor and trader psychology.
It is due to 'seller's remorse'.
When the $50.00 resistance was broken and the price moved higher, a number of the people who sold shares at the resistance decided that the decision to sell was a mistake. Some vowed to buy their shares back if they can do so at the same price they were sold at.
As a result, when the stock fell back to $50.00, they placed buy orders. The large concentration of these orders formed support.
Some of these buyers may become concerned others will be willing to pay higher prices and they know this is who the sellers will go to. So, they may increase the prices they are willing to pay. Others will see this and may do the same.
It could result in a bidding war or snowball effect that forces GM into a new uptrend.
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