based on my gut, if you made me choose up, down or trending w/in +/- 5pts of 40 by end of year, I would have to say UP. BWFDIK?!
there's a quote by p.lynch that I really like... he said during the fall 1998 downturn, something like... 'i don't know if the dow will go in the the next year, but i know that someday it's going to be significantly higher'... poor re-quote as I think he had a vlarge number in mind, but u get the idea. i totally agree. note, he's not saying it won't go down before it goes up.
--- pnf charts say dell is in a downtrend, if it breaks above the BRL, then that will be a big positive. perhaps more experienced pnf chart readers will see things a bit differently, but I'm pretty sure I've read it correctly... OJ, feel free to chime in here on chart reading. the (DWA) PNF methodology is more than just reading X's and O's, there are lots of things on their charts including (but not limited to :-) trading band, relative strength indicator, sector bullish percentage, wkly momentum.
at this time, the only positive for DELL is that its sector is positive but is getting to oversold (red) zone at 70%... the first reversal down in the sector BP, I would become very cautious in the computer stocks.
below is a more complete chart...
DELL (01/26/2000) 40.38 Down 1.745 Sector: Computers (Risk: Bull Confirmed 68+) Stock Mom: Neg RS = Sell, 05/25/1999; column = Os - Trend Chart Broke a Double Bottom on 01/19/2000
58 | 5 57 | Top5 56 | 5 55 -----------------------------------------------+------------------------- 5 54 * 5 53 X * 5 52 X O * 5 51 X O * 5 50 -----------------------------------------------X 1 X --* ---------------- 5 49 X 9 X X O X O * 4 48 X O X O X O X O X O * 4 47 X O X O X O X O O * 4 46 X O O O X X O X Med4 45 ---------------X --------O X O -- X X X ----O X O -- -- 4 44 O X X O X O X X O X O X O X O X 4 43 O X O X X O X O X X O X O X O X * O X O X O 4 42 O X O X O X O X O X O X O X C O X * O O X O 4 41 O X O X O X A X O B O X O X * O * O O 4 40 -O ----X O --8 X --------O --O X O --O --* --* | ------------------------ 4 39 O X X O X O X * | 3 38 O X O X O O * | 3 37 O X O X * | 3 36 O X 7 * | 3 35 -O X --------------------------* --------------| ------------------------ 3 34 O X * | Bot3 33 O X * | 3 32 6 * | 3 31 * | 3 |