JC Penney Breaks Out Of Its Doldrums

J C Penney Company Inc JCP shares are trading higher by $0.56 (7 percent) at $8.34 in Thursday's session. Some may attribute the rally to the announcement that the company plans to refinance $2.25 billion real estate loan, as well as a report that same-store sales were up in the quarter.

However, technicians may argue that this is a good old-fashioned breakout. Since May 20, the issue had been mirrored in a blase $0.52 trading range from $7.48 to $8. Once the upper end of the range was breached around 1:30 p.m. ET, momentum players piled into the issue.

So far, it has reached $8.37 and is not far off that level. That matches its high from May 10 at $8.38.