Look for Merck to respect trend line before entering

Merck ended the day near the bottom of its parallel channel, right above a high-volume support node at 8.19 and a trend line that's parallel with channel bottom. After hours, the price has moved below both the support and the trend line, but in my experience, after hours moves don't necessarily mean much. The real test will be tomorrow after market open. If the trend line breaks, then the price will test the bottom of the channel. That will be an opportunity for an entry with a tight stop loss.

Merck had a product launch after hours today (a smart pet feeder) that could help move the price upward, but honestly this stock has so many catalysts that I'm not sure investors pay much attention to them anymore. This one is pretty minor in the scheme of things. More important factors are Merck's strong analyst ratings and long history of earnings beats. One possible downside catalyst is Merck's slightly negative Earnings Surprise Prediction from Zacks.