Advances And Declines

"Scoreboard." "Haves and Have Nots." "Winners and Loo-hoo-hoo-sers."

Regardless of which term you like best, this is simply an end-of-day recap of how many stocks finished a given trading session higher or lower than the prior session. This metric is used by technical analysts who believe (A) it may provide a glimpse into investors' psyches, (2) it is indicative of the near-term momentum/direction of markets, and (iii) performing actual, difficult, fundamental research is for suckers.

If an index like the Dow Jones Industrial Average experiences 12 consecutive days of more declines than advances amongst its component stocks, that could indicate the market is "oversold" and about to see a reversal of fortune. Of course, it could just be the first 12 of 365 similar "down days" in the market. On the bright side, the most you can lose is 100% of your fortune, if you interpret this metric incorrectly.