Thursday’s Top Stocks
The Nasdaq Composite conjured up some Harry Houdini magic today as the tea
leaves of technical analysis provided support for our slightly wounded bovine
friend. On the session, the Naz finished up .87%, making good on yesterday’s
daily chart doji reversal bar, and just as things were starting to look bad,
too. Hmmm, now how does that work, I wonder??? Well, if you didn’t put on ‘the
hide’ early on, you probably wish you did hide as the intraday trade unfortunately
was not as kind as the closing figures might imply.
The broader S&P 500 index, while also in the green, up .40%, was stuck
for over two-thirds of the session in two different fractional consolidations
that demands more of a yikes than our typical yahoo. Add to that unfriendly
mix the fact that both indices endured lighter and well below-average volume
statistics and you have what this cautious bull considers less-than-condusive
intraday trade. Absolutely no ‘yahoo’ here for that type action. If you can’t
swallow that truth, maybe you prefer to take down some Starbucks (SBUX)—because
that leading stock is off another 1.5 points after hours, leaving a bad taste
in many bullish investors’ weighted portfolios.
You might think that this cautious bull would be happy with today’s .89% move
up in the Nasdaq and its outperformance vs. the broader S&P 500 since it
was mentioned prior to the move….but you’d be wrong. You see, bottom line,
if it ain’t what I consider to be tradable, then it just doesn’t bring home
the bacon–and that’s a whole lot more important than having a crystal ball
that works once in a while. The day started off well enough with some intraday
triggers that worked from both sides of the coin–but after that brief foray
into the plus column, it was ironically all downhill, even as the broader averages
went uphill.
What’s the culprit? In one man’s humble opinion, it’s the divergent action
in both of our major indices that has been going on now for a few weeks. Personally
speaking, unless we have something actually resembling a correction in the S&P
500, fear and greed will probably continue to keep ‘the bull’ alive, making
our little gig more of a crapshoot than anything else—and that’s a game that
just doesn’t offer the same odds that we’ve come to expect from the greatest
game on earth, namely disciplined, consistent daytrading tactics.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VXO ( $VXO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
14.99 | down .83 | na | 3% below | not at extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
23.59 | down 1.09 | na | 2% below | not at extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Semiconductor
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Biotech
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors :Gold & Silver (XAU)
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 |
| Petroleum Develop. | ( PETD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
27.51 | Top of range close on increased, above-average (IAA) volume b/o of weekly base |
443 | 1,346 |
| Guitar Center | ( GTRC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
36.37 | Top of range close approaching 52-week highs and weekly pattern triggers |
449 | 344 |
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 |
| Education Mgt. | ( EDMC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
31.28 | Bottom of range consolidation on IAA volume, breaking daily chart supports |
416 | 1,547 |
| Transaction Systems | ( TSAI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
18.54 | Bottom of range consolidation breaking three day lows on IAA volume |
309 | 562 |
| MGI Pharma | ( MOGN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
48.40 | High volume bottom of range close, failing at 20-Day EMA | 612 | 1,833 |
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 |
| Eli Lilly | ( LLY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
72.79 | 3,708 | 2,674 |
| Qualcomm | ( QCOM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
62.08 | 9,294 | 8,785 |
| General Motors | ( GM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
47.91 | 5,990 | 7,608 |
Institutional Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Paychex | ( PAYX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
32.91 | 2,445 | 3,052 |
| Merck | ( MRK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
47.89 | 9,047 | 8,528 |
| 3M | ( MMM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
78.57 | 2,900 | 3,096 |
| Yahoo | ( YHOO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
43.34 | 9,605 | 16,548 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use protective stops on all trades.
Chris Tyler