The Red Sea
Everything that
matters was soaked in red ink
Wednesday.
That meant downdrafts for the tech
bellwethers, opticals, bios, glamours, and most of our Group of Seven.
Worse downdrafts than in Tuesday’s
action.
The Naz itself fell back into its
previous three-week zone, again on lighter volume (5% less than on Tuesday), and
again going out near its session low.
Inside the glamour complex, losers
hammered winners by nearly 10 to 1.
In the benchmark set, the negative was
Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), under distribution for the third day.
Incidentally, if you’re trading the
intermediate term, you should always honor a sell stop
— even if the stock in question or the general market is declining on light
volume.
Light volume in an index is
constructive early in a pullback. However, once the correction in an index moves
into the 8% range, I like to see volume in an index accelerate, which often
produces a selling climax and a near-term end to the correction.
As important as volume is, however,
price is price.
It’s where the rubber meets the road.
Most critically, it’s what affects
your account.
Tellabs
(
TLAB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was distributed on
a wide-range day.
EMC
(
EMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was a lone bright light
as it flirted with a new high amid above-average volume.
Ariba
(
ARBA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), though lower, hung
in nicely for the entire day.
Check Point
(
CHKP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was a clear
disappointment, diving back into the base that it had cleared on Monday.
Digital Microwave
(
DMIC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) swiftly
took itself out of contention for an immediate-term breakout by gapping lower on
heavy trade.
Ditto for Extreme Networks
(
EXTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
which pierced the top of its prior base on rising turnover.
Flextronics
(
FLEXF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also fell
back into its previous base on light volume.
GSI Lumonics
(
GSLI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) hung in well
near the top of its three-week, wide-and-loose range.
Juniper
(
JNPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) pulled back for
the third day, depositing itself on top of its three-month cup-with-handle.
MRV
(
MRVC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was a rare winner
among vogue names, putting in a very-wide range outside day on elevated
activity.
Recent IPO Marvell Tech
(
MRVL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
trudged into new high ground.
PMC-Sierra, one of the better lookers
of late, pulled back on increased trade.
Siebel
(
SEBL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) broke down below
the top of its four-month, double-bottom base.
In all, nothing positive to say about
this one.