PNC Probes Resistance - Market Analysis for Apr 7th, 2011

The most salient feature of the enclosed hourly chart on PNC Financial Services (PNC) is the wide Mar-Apr sideways channel that is actually a series of higher lows and higher highs that is putting pressure on the resistance plateau located between 63.80 and 64.10.

Wednesday's late-session spike to 64.00 probed the resistance band, but could not chew through it ... at least until this morning's "dividend high" of 64.37, which is not shown on the chart from last night.

Let's notice that intraday volume surged on the spike, as did the rate of volume change amidst upturned RSI momentum, all of which suggests to me that PNC started something new on the upside that has the requisite technical underpinnings to blast above the top of the resistance band at 64.10.

As PNC digests the dividend news of this morning and the "sellers into the news," my near-term pattern work argues for upside continuation that sustains above 64.20 on the way to 65.30-.70. However, if 63.75-.65 support is violated, I should step aside to see what develops thereafter.