The Cult of Amazon Has Turned Into Shuffleboard Players in Boca Raton

The chart for Amazon.com has been the poster child for this market lackluster leadership of late, in terms of the marquee issues in the Nasdaq sporting their glaring underperformance. While it is certainly true that many healthcare and biotechnology issues have given a spirited effort to pick up the slack, in the end these marquee names (AMZN GOOG NFLX PCLN TSLA, etc)  continuing to lag have put too much pressure on the broad market for it to sustain a fresh leg higher. Specifically, AMZN now appears to be on the cusp of a multi-year breakdown. You can see the explosive prior bull run since the 2009 bear market bottom on the weekly chart, below, followed by the past year or so of correcting. However, the risk of something more ominous is present, beyond an extended consolidation, especially if AMZN loses $284, the well-defined price area dating back several years. While it may seem that the company itself is only getting better, in terms of its brand gaining more and more popularity, brick and mortar stores in the works, not to mention AMZN even winning Golden Globes, the market could easily have already foreseen all of those peaches and cream during the stock's multi-year run-up where CEO Bezos could do no wrong. AMZN will still be a great company with innovative ideas and a user-friendly website. But Father Time and the law of large numbers always win in the end, especially in the stock market. The stock would need a close back over $350 for me to consider the multi-year bearish thesis null and void. Earnings are scheduled for January 29th.