Thursday’s Top Stocks
Fresh lows established in both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, coupled with intraday
divergence on lighter trade made for some slop-and-chop conditions that had
this cautious bull wishing that March Madness was only on TV. Closing prices
were mixed on the session, between a fractional loss of .17% for the S&P,
to a gain of .40% for the Naz. I guess you could say the price mix fits very
well with the cloudy investor climate of the moment–bad ol’ geopolitical tensions
and inflationary pressures coupled with some bullish earnings releases, keeping
investors sandwiched between the two teams from Chicago and producing absolutely
‘no yahoo’ from this little corner of the market.
March Madness continued today, and speaking personally–the game felt terribly
rigged. Nope, I didn’t care for it one bit, actually I’d like to call a Mulligan
or Do-Over if possible. I hope you don’t agree, as that means you had a better
day at the office than yours truly, but the only continuity that I’m finding
right now, is the total lack of continuity in what is being moved around.
The lines on the chart that I use religiously are showing more wiggle than
actual direction–and bottom line, that makes the game a whole lot less fun.
Hmm, maybe it’s no coincidence that one of the hottest-performing sectors, the
gaming industry (SHFL, IGT, ISLE, and SGMS to name a few) is taking on a life
all its own, while market makers pull all the right intraday levers to make
the greatest game on earth look a bit like a one armed bandit. Harsh reality
for this cautious bull I’m afraid–but house odds do favor our game of consistent,
disciplined daytrading coming back to the gaming table real soon I suspect.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VXO ( $VXO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
20.65 | up .20 | na | 2% above | not at extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
26.07 | down .77 | na | 0% above | not at extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Semiconductors
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors : Oil Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Thursday’s stocks to watch:
Technical Strength.
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) |
17.77 | Top of range close near daily congestion pivots within multiweek base |
714 | 589 |
| Encore Wire | ( WIRE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
34 | Top of range close on above average volume | 144 | 196 |
Technical Weakness.
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 |
| Rofin Sinar | ( RSTI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
28.12 | Low of day close on increased, above average trade, approaching daily chart pivot lows |
159 | 1,427 |
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 |
| Biogen-Idec | ( BIIB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
54.63 | 5,315 | 5,759 |
| Intersil | ( ISIL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
21.52 | 2,497 | 2,409 |
Institutional Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Schlumberger | ( SLB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
61.08 | 3,715 | 6,752 |
| Merck | ( MRK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
43.01 | 7,594 | 8,432 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use protective stops on all trades.
Chris Tyler