Thursday’s Top Stocks
Some folks decided
‘enough already’, as the DJ-30 and S&P500 both traded through their respective
‘walls of worry’ on increased, above-average trade. On the session
the S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite finished higher by .84% to 1.24%, and both the
DJ-30 or Diamonds and the S&P500 broke through key resistance on a closing
basis. Definitely another ‘yippee’, but with plenty to do from both sides of
today’s trade and divergences still prevalent, this cautious bull will refrain
from belting out a great big yahoo anytime soon.
Not that it’s necessarily what I had in mind, but
at this point you could say, two down and one to go–or should that be two up
and one to go? In the midst of today’s toga, horn blowing party, volatility
levels retreated further to fresh YTD lows, recent leadership in stocks like
Career Education continued to give investors hard lessons in money management,
and, keep in mind that all of this action is occurring in front of some very
highly anticipated news due out next week. Hmm, it’s the little things like
that, that continue to keep this cautious bull on his toes.
With all the divergences, it’s still ‘EASIest’ to
play from both sides, as technically, the broader markets are still coiled, but
individual issues are all over the map. That part isn’t much of a mystery as all
it really takes are a handful of large cappers like MSFT, CSCO, GE, HD, and COST
to keep what lies beneath the surface, an entirely different reality. I will say
though, that this cautious bull does know when to bow down and say ‘no mas’ to
some of the hard working raging bulls out there–and that’s when price dictates
it to be appropriate. Today’s action in the major averages, coupled with some
decent volume, and some more growth stocks joining the likes of Engineered
Support Services (EASI) does in fact have this cautious bull respecting the
changing landscape…until we get to the next wall. I imagine that this will
probably happen around the same time that we get to hear next week’s big,
breaking headlines. Hopefully the bulls aren’t done yet, as an ‘air pocket’,
with little in the way of overhead resistance does exist, should the broader
averages find it in themselves to push up just a tiny bit more. Well, I might
respect what they’re attempting to do, but I’m not going to hold my breathe
either–I’m going to just continue focusing on our 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) |
13.63 | down .47 | cvr 6 sell | 7% below | not at extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
18.95 | down .34 | cvn 6 sell | 8% below | not at extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Internet
(
HHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors : Gold/Silver (XAU)
Thursday’s stocks to watch:
Longs.
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 Assesment | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Wal-Mart | ( WMT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
53.55 | Hammer into key weekly supports on increased, above-average trade |
9,237 | 23,284 |
| Akamai | ( AKAM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
16.28 | Increased volume bullish bar within daily handle |
3,008 | 2,852 |
| Gtech Holdings | ( GTK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
50.47 | Inside day off double bottom test |
978 | 1,898 |
| Engineered Support Services | ( EASI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
59.70 | Top of range close near gap pivot highs |
327 | 552 |
^next^
Shorts.
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 Assesment | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Encore Wire | ( WIRE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
26.92 | Bottom of range consolidation, nearing daily range supports |
234 | 141 |
Institutional Longs and Institutional Shorts.
The following stocks are selected from the Nasdaq, S&P 500 & 600 Indices,
and HOLDRs, and are based on a combination of daily and intraday analysis.
Institutional Longs
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Merrill Lynch | ( MER | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
54.30 | 4,890 | 4,846 |
| Amgen | ( AMGN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
54.22 | 9,541 | 9,774 |
| Cisco | ( CSCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
23.97 | 53,681 | 71,925 |
Institutional Shorts
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Microsoft | ( MSFT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
28.30 | 70,181 | 58,637 |
| Sina | ( SINA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
35.19 | 4,452 | 4,624 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use protective stops on all trades.
Chris Tyler