Friday’s Top Stocks
Investors found that the best place to shop for bargains was Best Buy
(BBY) as its price tag soared over 14% in Thursday’s session (sounds more like ‘retail’ if you ask me). As for the rest of the market and our ETF friends, trade was typical of the summer doldrums as the technical mix was a potpourri of ingredients not necessarily conducive to quality trade. The ETFs all put in a decent day as measured by price, as the gains were between .40% and 1% by the time the curtains closed on today’s show. But, with decreasing, below-average volume and a puzzled mixture of advancers over decliners, the party cake to celebrate our friends’ victory is not quite ready to take out of the oven.
The technical lows from two days ago have continued to hold, but personally I have to say that I’m letting out a less-than-enthusiastic ‘Yahoo.’ Individual names continue to mystify as each day passes. Many recent leaders are getting slaughtered like a ‘bad bull’, not worthy of curbing the appetites of peculiar investors. While other stocks most recent action looks like some kind of regurgitated projectile, coming out from the bowels of the marketplace. Keep it tight and light as the bulls and bears continue to fight it out. The ‘investment game’ that we love to partake in has become much more of a ‘gamble’ in today’s environment, making me glad to walk the walk in the land of consistent and disciplined daytrading.
‘Walking the walk’ means knowing how to proceed, given the market conditions of the day. Of course, we have to be in shape for each day’s game, but with our list of High and Low RS issues we must wait for the setups to appear. When the edge is present (a gift), we’ll be there ready to ‘run’ with it. But, when we see that today’s game has been cancelled due to inclement conditions, we’ll also be smart enough to realize that when nobody else is lining up to play, we might be better off ourselves, if we learn to rest until tomorrow’s high-probability game is once again in progress.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VIX ( $VIX.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
21.89 | down 1.41 | none | 1% above | At Extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
34.43 | down .40 | CVR 2 Buy | 6% above | Not At Extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Oil Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
Pharmaceuticals
(
PPH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors : Internet
(
HHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Telecomm
(
TTH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Friday’s HELVETICA>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 | Today’s Volume |
| Magma Designs | ( LAVA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
20.85 | Top of range consolidation to close at prior 52-week high, and pattern breakout levels on volume |
789k | 3,024m |
| Gtech Holdings | ( GTK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
38.56 | Wide Range thrust bar higher on strong volume, off yesterday’s technical reversal |
676k | 1,330m |
| Newmont | ( NEM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
36.95 | 52-Week highs, consolidating intraday near session highs |
4,720m | 3,822m |
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 | Today’s Volume |
| OmniVision | ( OVTI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
41.99 | Mid level intraday consolidation after reversal of fresh 52-week highs on above average volume |
1,504m | 1,302m |
| Michaels | ( MIK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
35.34 | Break away gap lower on strong volume | 611k | 1,782m |
| NCR | ( NCR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
26.03 | Break of daily range supports on volume to close near lows of session |
812k | 673k |
class=890430920-15102001>
class=890430920-15102001>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.
class=890430920-15102001>Long Reversals class=890430920-15102001>Closing Basis.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Technical Strength | Average Volume | Today’s Volume |
| Foundry | ( FDRY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
16.34 | Inside Day pattern after technical test of range supports and 50-Day EMA |
3,716m | 2,562m |
class=890430920-15102001>
Short
Reversals
Closing Basis.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Technical Strength | Average Volume | Today’s Volume |
class=890430920-15102001>
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 | Today’s Volume |
| Paychex | ( PAYX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
32.81 | 2,760m | 3,927m |
| Wal-Mart | ( WMT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
57 | 7,616m | 13,347m |
Institutional
Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume | Today’s Volume |
| Hewlett Packard | ( HPQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
19.31 | 12,846m | 17,243m |
| Yahoo | ( YHOO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
28.92 | 14,358m | 10,482m |
| Merrill Lynch | ( MER | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
50.47 | 6,318m | 10,653m |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use
protective stops on class=890430920-15102001> all trades.