Friday’s Top Stocks
The closing figures might not look like much, but to the technicians out there–it’s
a whole other story. While the EFTs closed fractionally around the unchanged
mark, between a small loss of .14% to an anemic .13% gain, it’s what’s outside
of this tiny scope of vision that might have some bulls looking around to watch
their collective tails. The early ‘gap and crap’ higher off a surprise reading
of the GDP, on stronger and above-average volume doesn’t bode well for the very
short term, within the market’s ‘confirmed rally.’ As a matter of fact (actually
opinion), the institutional-style distribution on a retest of the S&Ps recent
highs, coupled with a very flat (1:1) reading of advancers over decliners, makes
me want to ‘mooove’ my own lil’ tail in front of, and not behind the rest of
the herd.
Today’s action was less-than-bovine, or kind, to people who bought today’s
story, and the retest of daily highs in the Spyder. Five days into the rally
off technical lows and Wall Street somehow magically lines it up with the retest
of resistance levels, on a gap no less–I don’t know how ‘they’ do it, but they
seem to be very good at it. The only thing I continue to know is that as long
as they continue to play their games, I’ll continue to play mine with good ol’
fashioned consistent, disciplined daytrading.
What a day, that is if you kept yourself prepared as usual–although today,
it just didn’t seem to matter much. On a personal level (which I outlined in
my midday piece at TM) I tried to keep my ‘chatter’ down to a minimum and only
tried to pursue the creme de la creme of what I consider to be trades with edge.
Unfortunately, I was right in thinking about keeping it close to the vest in
today’s trade, but more unfortunately–with the few that did ‘elect’, even these
seemed to be ‘digging a hole to China’ (thanks not so much, NTES). So what to
do now, as we head back to the drawing board to reinvent the wheel–NOT!! You
can’t win ’em every single day, but what you can do is continue to go in prepared
and ready to trade the high-probability setups as they happen in tomorrow’s
trade, ‘cuz today’s tiny little hole is nothing compared to the mountain that
we continue to successfully climb up over the long haul.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VIX[CBOT:$VIX] | 16.45 | up .02 | cvr 2 sell | 9% below | Not At Extreme |
| VXN[CBOT:$VXN] | 24.77 | up .05 | none | 7% below | Not At Extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Semiconductors
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors :Â Internet
(
HHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Gold/Silver (XAU)
Friday’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 |
| Polymedica | ( PLMD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
29.24 | Mid level handle on high volume b/o of weekly consolidation base |
181 | 567 |
| Netscreen | ( NSCN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
27.34 | Fractional gainer on weekly b/o of high level base on volume, closing in mid level consolidation |
1,865 | 8,434 |
| Aspect Communications | ( ASPT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
13.51 | 2-Week consolidation retest on strong volume, closing near highs |
581 | 1,254 |
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 |
| Amgen | ( AMGN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
61.11 | Bottom of range close on technical failure of the 200-Day EMA and price resistance |
8,717 | 10,220 |
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 |
| Varian Semiconductor | ( VSEA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
46.28 | High RS issue testing Fibonacci price projection resistance out of ‘broadening triangle’ pattern on daily |
706 | 928 |
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 |
| Merrill Lynch | ( MER | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
58.84 | 5,056 | 4,969 |
| PeopleSoft | ( PSFT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
21.55 | 7,115 | 9,435 |
Institutional Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Johnson & Johnson | ( JNJ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
49.48 | 8,440 | 10,104 |
| Microsoft | ( MSFT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
26.12 | 54,720 | 98,666 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use protective stops on all trades.
Chris Tyler