Thursday’s Top Stocks
Â
Well, they might not be E.F.
Hutton, but when Merrill Lynch (MER) speaks, investors definitely listen.
The company came out with a barrage of market moving reports in Wednesday’s
trade. IBM
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the happy addition to their illustrious ‘Focus
List’, while the Biotech sector
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) enjoyed their kind words of
‘enough already’, as the recent two-day pullback from 52-Week Highs was deemed
an excellent opportunity to ‘clone’, hopefully more of its recent winning ways.
Thankfully, the firm only came out with one slap on the proverbial wrist. Taiwan
Semiconductor
(
TSM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was downgraded by Merrill, as it was seen to be on
‘shaky ground’. Hmmm, maybe that has something to do with yesterday’s 6.5
earthquake?
 There was additional pressure on the semiconductor
sector
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) as Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Cymer
(
CYMI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
both came out with their own woes of ‘instability’. Fortunately, the market
was able ‘to shake’ the semiconductor news off, and staged a rally in today’s
trade. Additional support for today’s gains in the ETFs were seen in the Oil
Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and the homebuilders
(
$HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), led by
better than expected numbers out of Lennar
(
LEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). The Spyders
(
SPY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
NASDAQ100
(
QQQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and the Diamonds
(
DIA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) all
pushed forward and ended the day up slightly above the 1% mark on increasing,
above average volume. On the NYSE, advancers led decliners by over 2:1, but over
on the NASDAQ, with the semiconductor sector weighing down broad based
enthusiasm for technology, the number was a bit more tame, coming in slightly
above the 1:1 ratio.Â
Is it safe to go back in the market waters?
Looking at today’s action, traders are saying that two days of tortuous downside
consolidation gave us two very good reasons to be buying stock in today’s
session. If you look at the ETFs in isolation, you might be a bit bewildered by
the rationale, or is the madness of crowds? But, as I’ve been saying, a lot of
issues have made much larger consolidation patterns in terms of time and
percentage, so maybe it stands to reason after all. Just in case it doesn’t
though, we can always fall back on our bread and butter, daytrading stocks.
Fortunately for us, as daytraders, if we stay
prepared with our High and Low RS issues and wait for the setups to happen in
the here and now, we can still participate and profit in that day’s rally or
sell off. As long as the madness of crowds shows itself each and every day, and
there continue to be reversal and continuation patterns, we’ll continue to have
more than enough trading opportunity during the day, to give thanks by the end
of the session.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VIX ( $VIX.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
22.13 |
Down 1.56 | CVR 2 Buy | 0% above | Not At Extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
34 | Down 3.43 | CVR 2,6 Buy | 3% Above | Not At Extreme |
Hottest Sectors :Â Oil Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and Biotechs
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors : Semiconductors
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Thursday’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 |
| MartekÂ
Biosciences |
( MATK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
43.90 | 52-Week high closing tp of range on volume | 623k | 684k |
| Lennar | ( LEN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
75.45 | High level consolidation at fresh 52-Week highs |
1,503m | 4,649m |
| BostonÂ
Scientific |
( BSX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
59.46 | Consolidation pullback intraday, new 52-Week highs on heavy volume |
3,188m | 14,609m |
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 |
| Air Products | ( ADP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
42.14 | Bottom of range close near prior price supports |
1,052m | 2,226m |
| Laboratory Corp | ( LH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
29.31 | Small range candlestick doji below the 50 and 200-Day EMAs |
1,548m | 1,897m |
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 |
| Maxim Integrated
Products |
( MXIM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
36.44 | Hammer reversal setup on daily, after key test of technical supports with confirming volume |
8,501m | 11,761m |
class=890430920-15102001>
Short
Reversals
Closing Basis.
None Today.
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 |
| Merrill Lynch | ( MER | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
47.34 | 6,044m | 5,470m |
| Mercury Interactive | ( MERQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
43.50 | 4,517m | 3,057m |
| Tyco | ( TYC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
19.12 | 13,890m | 36,430m |
| Schlumberger | ( SLB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
49.78 | 3,301m | 4,143m |
Institutional
Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume | Today’s Volume |
| Staples | ( SPLS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
19.80 | 4,670m | 6,575m |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use
protective stops on class=890430920-15102001> all trades.