Monday’s Top Stocks
Well, they might not have gone ‘Boo!!’ in today’s trade, but the ETFs were
anything but a treat for traders in Friday’s session. On the last day of the
quarter, when many folks are closing their books and hiding the ‘scary ones’
from view–our index proxies decided to do their best impersonation of the notorious
consolidation known in these parts as the Slim Jim. It was only truly frightening
for those who tried to trade it, as the ‘inside-day’ type of action with fractional
losses between .02% to .48% is the kind of stuff that scares the bejesus out
of intraday traders like no other. It goes without saying–but for the record,
volume was lighter and below-average and the market breadth also did its best
to dress up like our friend Slim, with a very slight advantage going to the
bulls with a 1.1:1 ratio. Just say ‘mooo’, or was it ‘boo?’
A real sleeper, folks. It wasn’t officially an inside day in all of our index
friends, but it was definitely quiet with no discernible edge for either camp.
A week ago, when it all looked ‘really frightening’ on the test of Fibonacci
supports, I was personally all bulled up, and loved the fact that the premature
‘BOO!!’ in the markets gave us some classic opportunity in the form of pullbacks
and stocks primed to breakout. Now with Halloween officially here, I am truly
scared–by the fact that there’s a whole lot less opportunity out there for
our bovine friends. But, it’s also a fact that I personally don’t mind taking
off the bull costume and going back to the full-time threads of disciplined,
consistent daytrading.
‘Boo!!’–not ‘boo-hoo’ sad. Yes, it wasn’t my best, but it was far from my
worst. No intraday scares in these parts, just the acknowledgement that things
were not going to be conducive to high-probability trading out of classic patterns
very early in the game. A couple up, a couple down–the writing was on the wall
for intraday traders (remember what the kid spelled on the mirror in the movie
The Shining?), but that’s nothing to get truly scared about, just something
to respect. With the holiday looming and the big boys keeping the game in check
(so they might collect their bonus treats based on some kind of trickery), the
real high-probability trade today was to find your treat somewhere other than
our usual favorite haunts, and start your weekend a little bit early. Have a
great weekend.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VIX ( $VIX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
15.88 | down .45 | na | 11% below | At Extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
24.67 | down .07 | na | 7% below | Not At Extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Oil Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Biotech
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors :Â Internet
(
HHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Monday’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 |
| Scientific Games | ( SGMS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
13.30 | At top of daily ascending channel of 8 week consolidation, closing top of range |
940 | 880 |
| Magma Design | ( LAVA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
24.23 | 52-Week high b/o on consolidation, narrow range day with volume |
843 | 2,473 |
| Overseas Shipping | ( OSG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
27.26 | Above average b/o of 9-week trading range to 52-week highs, closing top of range |
144 | 229 |
| Wireless Facilities | ( WFII | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
17.15 | Top of range consolidation to 52-week highs on volume, thrust b/o bar out of daily pullback |
664 | 2,835 |
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 |
| Genzyme | ( GENZ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
45.90 | Bottom of range consolidation below the 20 and 50 day ema’s closing near angular test of daily supports |
2,768 | 2,811 |
| Intersil | ( ISIL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
25.78 | Bottom of range consolidation on above-average b/d below the 20 and 50-day ema’s |
2,479 | 3,932 |
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 |
| Intuit | ( INTU | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
50.10 | 2,349 | 2,327 |
| Xilinx | ( XLNX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
31.77 | 7,725 | 7,884 |
| Verizon | ( VZ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
33.60 | 7,738 | 8,544 |
Institutional Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Amazon | ( AMZN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
54.43 | 9,873 | 7,717 |
| Microsoft | ( MSFT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
26.14 | 54,892 | 69,586 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use protective stops on all trades.
Chris Tyler