Over And Done With
The good news was that it was over.
The week, that is.
That it was the end of the week was
about the best news you could find Friday.
If the growth sector is ready for an
upramp, the bells certainly aren’t giving you any clues.
This is one of the market’s glaring
negatives.
Here, EMC
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best shape (what else is new?).
However, Sun
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are the only others that are close to forming constructive patterns, with Oracle
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Meanwhile, you have the severe
deterioration in Nortel
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And we all know about Cisco
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and Intel
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Friday, among the names, BEA
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hurdled a weeklong triangle, but the market’s weakness caught up to it, allowing
it to follow through for only a point before it was shut down.
The action of BEA was one of the day’s
most telling signs that the market needs to put in more time.
This is the benefit of following the
leaders, and something practiced by successful traders since at least 1911, when
my grandfather began trading.
Understanding the subtleties of
leadership can give you valuable information of sentiment at the margin.
If a stock like BEA that has
everything going for it fundamentally and technically can’t follow through on
convincing volume, can you expect the rest of the growth sector to do likewise,
let alone the rest of the market?
Actuate
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broke out of a six-month staging area only to pull back below the lip…volume
was over three times normal.
Ariba
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disappointment…a loser every day this week, the stock undercut its minor low
of two weeks ago, though it did find support at its 50-day.
But Cell Therapeutics
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follow through on its recent breakout, with volume about double normal.
Gemstar
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for the third day of thick turnover.
And Imclone
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impressive snapback from Thursday’s sharp reversal on volume.
Recent new issue PECO II
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inched into new territory.
Agile
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The question everyone wants to know
the answer to is how much time the market needs to put in.
Of course, no one knows the answer to
that question today.
As Greg Kuhn likes to point out, if
things appear hazy today, be patient…the market’s real message should present
itself before too long.
Until then, waiting — and most
important, watching — is the best course of
action for the position trader.