Dow's rally brings it to within a week of forming a bullish 'golden cross' pattern

The Dow Jones Industrial Average , which rallied 192 points in afternoon trade Wednesday, is now on track to produce a bullish "golden cross" chart pattern within a week. That pattern occurs when the 50-day moving average--a shorter-term trend tracker--crosses above the 200-day moving average (DMA)--a longer-term trend tracker. The 50-DMA currently extends to 24,966.52, and has been rising by an average of 54.3 points a day this month, while 200-DMA extends to 25,139.97 and has been rising by an average of 4.4 points. Based on those trajectories, the golden cross would occur on March 19, or 61 sessions since the 50-DMA crossed below the 200-DMA to form a "death cross." That would mark the shortest stint that the 50-DMA is below the 200-DMA since the 61-day streak ended Sept. 30, 2010. After falling 18.8% from the Oct. 3 record close of 26,828.39 to the Dec. 24 15-month low of 21,792.20, the Dow has since run up 18.1%.

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