Four Stocks With Compelling Charts

There was a lot of noise on Wall Street this week.

We had earnings reports from tech giants such as Apple (AAPL Quote), IBM (IBM Quote), Google (GOOG Quote) and Microsoft (MSFT Quote). On Tuesday, we saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average drop the most in history for an inauguration day as President Barack Obama took over the White House. And this week, we also saw huge volatility in the banking sector after the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS Quote) said it may have lost $41 billion last year, prompting the British government to announce a second bailout for the company.

Investors often get overwhelmed by everything that is happening on Wall Street, leading to a clouded mind when it comes to making sound investment or trading decisions. One way to lift those clouds is to focus on an investment discipline called technical analysis. Technical analysis is a stock analysis method that is used to forecast the future of financial price movements based on the examination of past price movements.

Many traders and investors use technical analysis to make investment decisions. However, some don't subscribe to the practice, calling it "voodoo" or a "pseudoscience." Pure technical analysts believe it is pointless to do fundamental analysis -- the process of analyzing companies' financial statements and health, its management and competitive advantages, and its competitors and markets. ...