We are seeing the final thrust up in the Dow Industrials to complete the multi-month Rising Bearish Wedge, a.k.a. Ending Diagonal Triangle. That final thrust higher is labeled below as wave e up.

The first leg up of e, {a}, completed Friday, April 21st, at the 11,405.88 intraday high. Then prices fell into the afternoon, the start of {b} down, which completed a zigzag pattern Tuesday, April 25th at 11,260.84, just about at the Fibonacci .382 retrace target we identified in the weekend issue no 314 (that calculation was 11,266). Wave e is a three-wave set, and the final thrust higher, wave {c} of e up is underway, a five wave rally. The parallel trend-channel targets about 11,500 for this top, but that is merely a reasonable target. Being so close to the all-time 11,750 mark, it could decide to top there (giving us a huge six year double top) or it could truncate around the 11,350 to 11,450 area where the DJIA topped four other times over the past eight years and represents formidable resistance.

Any way we cut it, we are approaching a very significant historical top here. The first two of five waves for {c}, wave {i} up and {ii} down have completed, as have the first two sub-waves of {iii} up. There is the possibility of a short-covering rally for 3 of {iii} of {c} up, the timing of which is interesting, coming during the normal beginning-of-month bullish bias early next week.

While the e wave up of the final rally Minuette wave c up to a top is an overlapping triangle within a parallel trend-channel in the Dow Industrials, clearly in the S&P 500 we see a more traditional Rising Bearish Wedge. In both cases, the Elliott Wave count is completing perfectly on cue, the patterns are finishing up nicely, and this should be the final rally to a top. Once it tops, there should be a huge decline starting that we will all be able to identify when it arrives. We will rely upon our proprietary Stochastic and Purchasing Power Indicators to identify this coming turn. Our preference is to let our trading be guided by those indicators, rather than the Elliott Wave labeling, which is subject to influence from liquidity intervention short-covering rallies that can morph the labeling.

We missed getting a fifth straight Hindenburg Omen Friday, April 28th, by a thread, due to NYSE New 52 week Highs being slightly more than double New Lows. All other criteria were met, meaning the old definition was satisfied. NYSE New Highs were 180, and New Lows were 78. The McClellan Oscillator was minus -8.21. But we are interested in observations that tie to reliable probabilities, so we sit this weekend with 8 observations since April 7th.

Here's the color coded, legend we use for our Elliott Wave count symbols, starting from the largest degree waves to the smallest:

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who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
But I will warn you whom to fear; fear the one who after He has
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Are not five sparrows sold for two cents?
And yet not one of them is forgotten before God.
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows.
And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men,
the Son of God shall confess him also before the angels of God;
But he who denies Me before men
shall be denied before the angels of God."
Luke 12:4-9