Must-See Charts: Apple, GE, China Unicom

Here's a look at how some of the biggest names on Wall Street are trading technically.

Author:: Jonas Elmerraji
Publish date:: Mar 25, 2010 12:05 PM EDT

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Economic fundamentals re-entered the picture for investors this week as the euro-zone debt crisis continues to heat up. While exuberant investors pushed equities higher last week, moving broad-based indexes to 52-week highs, this week's downgrade of Portuguese sovereign debt and the still-unfolding issues in Greece are starting to take their toll on the market.

But that shouldn't keep us from profitable trades. As we do every Thursday, let's take a look at how Wall Street's biggest names are trading technically.

Technical analysis uses a stock's price movements to determine where shares are headed in the future. Technical charts are used every day by proprietary trading floors, the street's biggest financial firms and individual investors to get an edge on the market. And according to some sources, skilled technical traders can bank gains as much as 90% of the time.

Every week, Stockpickr analyzes the technicals for some of Wall Street's highest-volume stocks and takes a look at how to trade them. Here's

this week's look

at how some of the biggest names on Wall Street are trading technically.

Since unveiling the iPad to the world in late January, shares of

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

have covered serious upward ground. But the biggest moves could be yet to come for the Cupertino, California-based technology company. That's because a move past a key technical resistance level opens the doors for serious gains in April.

Apple has been Wall Street's tech darling for a while now -- and for good reason. The company's computers are gaining market share, its iPhone division has sold more than 33 million units, and its iPod is the de facto audio player of choice right now. And with the new iPad coming available on April 3, investors can't help but expect another homerun product -- and they shouldn't be disappointed if initial sales estimates are to be trusted.


Stockpickr: Who Owns Apple? Renaissance Technologies Prince Al-Waleed SAC Capital

But the technicals make Apple's shares especially enticing right now. The company was bounded in a tight uptrending channel for much of 2009, only breaking down at the beginning of December before bumping its head on a double top at the beginning of 2010. Shares broke above resistance earlier this month, and consolidated, leaving higher ground attainable as we head into April. Expect shares to track sideways next week barring any exciting iPad news, then pounce on a break above $230.

For decades,

General Electric

(GE) - Get Report

has been considered a perennial stock powerhouse. With a new decade well underway, things haven't changed much.

The company stands poised to make higher in the second quarter of 2010 thanks to a bullish ascending triangle pattern that shares have been forming since last September. In technical analysis, longer-lasting patterns are considered all the more dependable - and in GE's case, the ascending triangle turned out to be strong indeed. Shares broke out earlier this month -- propelled by bullish movement in the market at large -- and pushed up to a 52-week high just below $19.


Stockpickr: Who Owns GE? Warren Buffett Bruce Kovner Dodge & Cox

That psychological resistance level could easily broken if investors' economic fears are assuaged in the next couple of weeks. Keep in mind that shares are overbought right now, so any kind of sustainable rally will have to wait -- when shares break above $19, consider going long for a short-term profit.

Downside risk just got a little bit bigger for shareholders of

China Unicom

(CHU) - Get Report

, following a break below a key support level. But while shares could slide, don't expect a complete breakdown in share prices any time soon.

China Unicom has played second fiddle for a while in the Chinese telco industry, a market position the company has been fiercely fighting to improve against rival

China Mobile

(CHL) - Get Report

. But a more pressing concern for shareholders should be a breakdown below the 52-day moving average, a key resistance level that shares had been sliding above all month. The move, which took place at yesterday's open, puts the stock's short-term price target at $10.50, a 10% downside potential.