Corinthian Colleges Inc.  (COCO) Trade Now »     Rate COCO  -  Discuss COCO  -  Add to Watch List        

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

• Durable Orders for July

• Consumer Confidence for August - Street expects 48
• S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for June - Street expects -16.4%

I was running some scans and education stocks jumped out at me as looking particularly weak, despite their last few days of gains. Let’s look at Corinthian Colleges (COCO), but you can look at any other stock in this sector (Apollo Group (APOL), Career Education Co. (CECO), DeVry (DV)) and you see the same patterns of lower highs and lower lows. Even after its recent bounce off its 200 day MA, it’s most likely going to find resistance near its 50 day MA.

Filed under: Technical Analysis, S and P 500, DJIA

I’ve had a quick look at education stocks in the US and they are a pocket of relative strength.

Education tends to be relatively defensive in tough economic times because people are reluctant to cut back spending on their children’s education.

Some even believe it is counter-cyclical as people made redundant ride out the downturn in colleges, while others who are employed try to bolster their credentials and improve employment prospects.