Thursday’s Top Stocks
Since our ETF friends got ‘Fed’ yesterday in the form of classic accumulation,
it might not have surprised many traders that today was a day of action resembling
digestion of those gains. What might surprise some folks is the fact that today’s
triple for the bulls comes on the heels of some very, very distressing corporate
news in the form of less-than-stellar results from growth stock names like Netease.com
(
NTES |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Gilead Sciences
(
GILD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). Both issues had been market
leaders–NTES a bit more recently, but nonetheless both still led at least part
of the Nasdaq charge in recent months off its March lows. After all the initial
shock value, while these two were still punished by day’s end, the indices and
many of our other leading issues did quite well, all things considered. On the
session, the ETFs finished fractionally higher between .20 to .32 on lighter
but still above-average trade. With the advancing issues confirming by a 1.55
to 1 margin, you might say that they’re not charging, but they are definitely
‘moooving’ in the right direction.
The rearranging of some portfolios might have kept the indices in check today,
but if you’ll ‘check’ with many of the market’s leading issues, it was a glorious
session to be paying attention. Weekly and daily breakouts were still triggering
on this the fourth day off our recent, and very, very scary lows. Personally,
after a few sessions of climbing, I’m getting a little bit of altitude sickness.
It doesn’t mean I’m quitting the climb, just that I might be lightening up the
load as we climb up the proverbial wall of worry. But, regardless of what I’m
doing to the old ‘holdings’ (yeah, right), you can bet that I’ll continue to
climb in comfortably each and every day with my consistent, disciplined style
of daytrading.
What a day, that is if you kept yourself prepared as usual. I personally didn’t
know what to expect coming in today, as I’m not in the prediction biz. All I
can do is get ready to trade the ‘what is’, in the here and now. That means
regardless if breakouts are triggering (GRMN and VAR) that day, or if it happens
to be an environment in which to concentrate on the classic reversal setups–
the only way to survive the ongoing climb on the market mountain, is by having
myself ready to summit before the sun rises. We might not make a successful
bid each and every day, but that’s the name of the game in scaling our accounts
to new heights over the very long haul.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VIX[CBOT:$VIX] | 16.40 | down .42 | none | 5% below | Not At Extreme |
| VXN[CBOT:$VXN] | 24.72 | down .19 | none | 3% below | Not At Extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Semiconductors
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Gold/Silver (XAU)
Weakest Sectors :Â Biotech
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Oil Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Thursday’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 |
| Documentum | ( DCTM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
29.42 | Top of range close on average volume, fractionally above 2 week consolidation highs |
1,732 | 1,483 |
| Packateer | ( PKTR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
19.75 | high volume top of range consolidation on daily continuation of pattern b/o |
527 | 2,196 |
| Comtech Communications | ( CMTL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
31.84 | 5-week pattern b/o, 52-week highs w/ volume confirmation, closing top of range |
415 | 520 |
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 |
| Marsh & Mclennan | ( MMC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
45.53 | Bottom of range consolidation on wide range bearish daily bar, with heavy volume |
2,010 | 6,799 |
| Monster | [MNSTMNST] | 25.43 | Bottom of range consolidation on ‘tailing’ daily bar below the 20 and 50-day ema’s |
2,043 | 5,107 |
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 |
| Maxim Integrated | ( MXIM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
48.24 | 6,288 | 8,749 |
| Nextel | ( NXTL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
24.04 | 17,771 | 19,552 |
| Xilinx | ( XLNX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
31.33 | 7,712 | 6,841 |
| Merrill Lynch | ( MER | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
58.34 | 5,055 | 5,284 |
Institutional Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Verizon | ( VZ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
32.81 | 7,731 | 9,307 |
| Mercury Interactive | ( MERQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
47.01 | 3,265 | 2,770 |
| Microsoft | ( MSFT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
26.74 | 54,720 | 73,440 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use protective stops on all trades.
Chris Tyler