Thursday’s Top Stocks
No pleasantries for today’s reversal of fortune, as all three of our ETF friends
turned tail and red in the face. A ‘surprise’ OPEC cut in oil production was
news for some, and history for most of us, as the invisible hand of the Generals
seemed to be at work well ahead of most news sources. Maybe I should just stay
tuned
in to the History Channel instead? Volume came in heavy, and above average
as this wasn’t your ordinary Joe doing the selling. Nope, you can mark this
down as a day of distribution by the Boys Club of Wall Street. Coincidentally,
profit-taking and jumping ship were hugely popular in today’s trade, weighing
heavily on recent favorites by a greater than 2:1 margin.
Yahoo…maybe? The most redeeming quality of today’s sell-off is that the
market proxies are in testing mode. The Spyders for instance are spitting distance
from doing
the 50/50, and that’s not a coin toss, my friend. The 50% Fibonacci retracement,
and the 50-Day EMA are lined up on top of each other, setting up a high-probability
price reversal zone. We won’t know ’til tomorrow if support levels will hold,
but regardless of the next day’s blip on the market radar, we can continue
to practice our disciplined, consistent brand of daytrading.
The dollar might be weakening, but hopefully your own greenbacks continue
to show strength regardless of bullish or bearish activities in that day’s
game. Taking the trade out of continuation and reversal patterns in your
favorite High and Low RS issues is great, but remember the most important
rule. The only ‘yen’
you’ll ever need for your own greenback strength is keeping the game real,
and not ‘on paper’, by following the magic ‘MM.’ Whatever it is you’re trading
in that session, keep to the ‘MM!!!’ No, not the Market Maker, the magic of Money Management
within your disciplined, consistent trading methodology.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VIX ( $VIX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| VXN ( $VXN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Hottest Sectors : Oil Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Gold/Silver (XAU)
Weakest Sectors : Semiconductors
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Biotech
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Thursday’s stocks to watch:
Technical Strength Top of Range.
Stocks are scanned from TM’s Proprietary and Technology 10 Momentum lists on
the Indicators page, as well as being hand selected, based on the most recent
technical action. This may include some or all of the following: abnormal
volume, price patterns, as well as bullish action off of technical price
supports or clearance of technical resistance in that day’s session.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Technical Strength | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Quest Software | ( QSFT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
12.76 | Handle b/o on daily, pulling back into bottom of range consolidation near trigger price on heavy volume |
1,186 | 5,389 |
| Finish Line | ( FINL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
28.67 | Top of range close on strong volume | 468 | 902 |
Technical Weakness Bottom of Range.
Stocks are scanned from TM’s Implosion and Technology Implosion Lists on the
Indicators page, as well as being hand selected, based on the most recent
technical action. This may include some or all of the following: abnormal
volume, price patterns, as well as bearish technical action at key support,
or resistance levels based on closing prices.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Technical Strength | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Cabot Microelectronics | ( CCMP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
57.14 | Bottom of range close, follow-thru day out of technical b/d on above-average relative volume |
776 | 659 |
Stock Reversal Setups Closing Basis.
Stocks that are setting up on a closing basis as potential long or short reversal pattern
candidates. Candidates listed may have triggered on a closing basis, or close
to triggering ( my general rule is to list the pattern setup if it is within
+/-.15 of trigger price). Patterns include basing patterns (Slim Jims, 1,2,3s,
Double bottoms) consolidations, and triangle reversals. Background technical
supports in the form of Fibonacci levels, EMAs (DEMA=daily ema), RS, and former
price action are used in the decision making process.
Long Reversals Closing Basis.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Technical Strength | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Short Reversals Closing Basis.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Technical Strength | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Institutional Favorites and Institutional Laggards.
The following stocks are selected from the Nasdaq, S&P 500 & 600 Indices,
and HOLDRs. These are normally heavily traded, liquid issues that are exhibiting
relative strength or weakness, patterns (consolidations or Slim Jims) , or
last hour volume surges, indicative of follow through in the very near term.
Institutional Favorites
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Staples | ( SPLS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
24.75 | 5,135 | 6,048 |
Institutional Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Verizon | ( VZ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
32.60 | 7,125 | 11,946 |
| Northrop Grumman | ( NOC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
86 | 1,021 | 2,019 |
| Goldman Sachs | ( GS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
85.82 | 3,650 | 8,432 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use protective stops on all trades.
Chris Tyler