Batting 1000
Two-for-two on this
rally.
Two days up for the Naz on higher
volume with good closes.
Of course still (much) too early to
get excited, but about as much as you can hope for thus far.
It was the heaviest volume day in the
Nasdaq this month, and the second heaviest in 10 weeks.
Volume is good.
At least most of the time.
One instance in which volume is not
good is when a stock or index bases following a run-up.
EMC
(
EMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), that über
must-own, confirmed the better tape of tech with a 6% vault into new high
ground, closing well, and on its highest volume in nearly seven weeks.
There are three stocks that are most
interesting to watch these days.
They are Network Appliance
(
NTAP |
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News |
PowerRating),
Interwoven
(
IWOV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and Handspring
(
HAND |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
A primary, a secondary, and a
tertiary.
In addition to Mercury, they all broke
out this week, and are among the most conspicuous breakouts of late.
Since valid breakouts have been few
and far between, their behavior is of value from a sentiment standpoint; they
will be watched to see if there is continued follow-through or failure.
Of the three, NTAP is the most
important.
It’s an institutional favorite, yet
one that doesn’t get nearly as much press as most of its big-cap tech brethren.
Nevertheless, it’s the 11th largest
member of the NDX, and bigger than Ciena
(
CIEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Juniper
(
JNPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), i2
(
ITWO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
Verisign
(
VRSN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and Dell
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
IWOV, mentioned repeatedly over the
weeks, and charted in this space Tuesday,
sported one of the most obvious-appearing bases in recent memory.
When a futures trader I know who
doesn’t believe in base breakouts comments on how beautiful IWOV looks, I know a
pattern is obvious.
As a position and/or swing trader, you
will sometimes find that the most obvious-looking patterns don’t work.
Unfortunately, you won’t know until
after the fact whether you have a success or a failure.
Among the names, Cacheflow
(
CFLO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
continued to come on.
Brocade
(
BRCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was another strong
positive, up on turnover 57% above normal as it printed a new best intraday.
Check Point
(
CHKP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) chugged to a
new high on mediocre trade…it’s been a stereotype for the growth sector over
the past few months, breaking out of range after range, only to see little
follow-through.
Ciena
(
CIEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) came out of a
two-week V-pattern on average activity.
IDEC
(
IDEC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) moved to a six-month
high on 30% higher trade than usual.
Mercury
(
MERQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) followed through
nicely on Tuesday’s breakout from a six-month staging area.
Protein Design
(
PDLI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was another
standout, up 15% to a six-month high on lukewarm volume, as it begins to be
taken seriously.
Redback
(
RBAK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is suddenly
sneaking back into contention.