Social Media Stocks Drop an Interesting Hint (FB, LNKD, TWTR)

Were it JUST LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE:LNKD) or JUST Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) or JUST Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) up big today, it might be a dismissible factoid. It's not just one of these social media names that's up on Tuesday, however. FB, TWTR, and LNKD are all up - and up more than a little bit - suggesting the market is warming up to these stocks again as a group. It matter, because when a budding trend is made up of all the key names in a group, it's usually a longer-lasting, trade-worthy trend.

And make no mistake... all of these stocks are not only up today, but have worked their way past key technical hurdles.

For Twitter shares, the move above the prior peak at 35.14 confirms the bulls aren't playing around here. We just logged a higher low, and if you look closely at the TWTR chart you'll see that the most bullish days since hitting bottom in early May have been made on higher volume. Once today's final tally is in, it too should be another high volume advance. There's plenty more room to keep running too.

Facebook shares have also moved above the last of their potential ceilings (the last one being 64.35). While volume hasn't been all that impressive on the way up, everything else has, like the fact that the 20-day moving average line (blue) is back above the 50-day line (purple), and the 20-day moving average line is about to cross above the 100-day moving average line (gray). Even without the moving average crossovers though, the sheer shape of the FB chart says the stock's about to pop out of a consolidation period and snap back into an uptrend.

As for LinkedIn, it may not be tiptoeing into new-high territory today, but it's still made key technical progress of its own. After logging a string of higher lows, today's 3.2% pop has pushed LNKD shares above the all-important 50-day moving average line (purple).... an important line in the sand that was a big problem back in March, keeping a lid in the rally efforts long enough to let the bears take complete control.

Putting it all together, it's tough to say there's not something significant going on here with the social media industry's top names. Underscoring that premise is the fact that the rest of the market is anything but impressive today. To see Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all rally so sharply (4%, 2.5%, and 3.4%, respectively) on an otherwise dead day for stocks confirms traders are falling in love with the industry again. The best move her may be to take the simple clues at face value and jump into TWTR, FB, or LNKD while the euphoria is still building. If there's any group that could be viewed as impervious to a marketwide pullback, social media names may well be it.

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