Over the past few sessions, the S&P 500 has been sitting in the upper end of this month’s range. It will still take a bit more work from the bulls to help break the index out of this range and even more, work to move back to previous all-time highs. As for some of the individual stocks within the index, today we want to highlight some recent breakouts or potential breakouts.

Unlike the broader S&P, most of the stocks shown below have entirely recovered recent losses and are now in the process of breaking out to new highs. Such is the case for Accenture (ACN), ANSYS (ANSS), Celanese (CE), Home Depot (HD), HLA Tencor (KLAC), and Tyson Foods (TSN). For some others like Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) and QUALCOMM (QCOM), the breakout is instead from a downtrend.

The breakout for HD is perhaps the most recent development following the stock’s surge in response to earnings earlier this week. Similarly, TSN had been stuck under resistance around $83 since May, but a positive reaction to earnings on August 5th was just the catalyst needed for the stock to break out. After a mild pullback in the middle of this month, TSN is beginning to make its push higher again. 

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While the overall sector is currently the most extended at over 2 standard deviations above its 50-DMA, the Utilities sector (XLU) notably has a significant number of stocks eyeing a breakout. Many of these have been in strong uptrends throughout the past year but have taken a pause since June. After rebounding off of early August lows, these stocks have come back up to these June resistance levels. Xcel Energy (XEL) has already broken out and if XEL and the rest follow the script of Duke Energy (DUK), there is further upside for these stocks. 

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