Thursday’s Top Stocks
Still no respect for Uncle Al. Greenspan’s reiterations, or should I say ‘hushed utterances’ on the improving economy were ignored by Wall Street, or maybe they just couldn’t hear him. Besides a pocket of strength in the semiconductors
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), due to Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) ‘telling’ investors a good story today, it was pretty much across the board weakness in all sectors. As such, the ETFs ended up finishing down on the session after the early gap higher. Losses in our market proxy friends were contained between .35% to .65%, so all things considered, not too shabby considering the downside sector breadth. Not so coincidentally, decliners did lead advancers today. On the NYSE the figure was slightly higher than 2:1, while the market leading NASDAQ showed a more tame 1.3:1 ratio. Volume
was mixed as the New York witnessed an uptick, but over on the ‘other floor’,
the number was off slightly on the day. Personally, I’d be hard pressed to call it a day of
distribution, but then again that’s just me. For you IBD’ers out there, you’ll have to figure that one out with tomorrow’s paper.
I have to tell you it felt a lot worse during the session. Intraday losses of over 10%, in many individual high flying growth stocks and market leaders seemed to be the norm early on in the first hour of trade. After the first 60 minutes of trade most of the damage was done, especially to the majority of those issues experiencing ‘a fear of flying.’ This action set up a plethora of intraday reversals, the least of which concerned the ETFs. Personally, I’d rather focus on the ‘hot potato’ of the day. When they’re dropping good food on the ol’ technical support floor, I’m always willing to drop in and put some on the plate. That is, as long as it’s served up right. Of course, with the intraday dish served up, there’s no better way to hop in the
buffet line than with good ol’ fashioned, consistent, disciplined daytrading.Â
When the market rewards us with days like today we know why we do what we do each and every day. By preparing beforehand, to scoop up all those High RS potatoes at delicious price levels out of classic reversal patterns, it makes all the work worthwhile, and the actual harvesting easy. And after we’re done harvesting our crop of ‘potatoe’, there’s nothing better than taking our hard-earned cash and rewarding ourselves with a little bit of ‘Quail.’
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VIX ( $VIX.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
22.29 | up .45 | none | 4% above | Not At Extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
33.99 | up .06 | none | 5% above | Not At Extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Semiconductors
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Homebuilders
(
$HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors : Networking (NWX) and Health
Medical (HMO)
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 |
| Omnivision | ( OVTI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
39.45 | New 52-Week closing high, to finish top of range in consolidation pattern |
1,465m | 1,461m |
| BEA Systems | ( BEAS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
13.24 | High level consolidation after gap b/o of monthly trading range on strong volume |
11,195m | 36,647m |
| General Dynamics |
( GD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
77.49 | Intraday consolidation in upper range, to close at prior 52-week highs on volume |
1,713m | 3,029m |
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 |
| Hovnanian | ( HOV | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
54.25 | bottom of range close after technical high volume break below key 50-Day EMA |
1,127m | 2,230m |
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 |
| Veritas | ( VRTS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
28.92 | 1,2,3 bottom setting up intraday off angular daily test of price supports |
8,697m | 6,377m |
class=890430920-15102001>
Short
Reversals
Closing Basis.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Technical Strength | Average Volume | Today’s Volume |
class=890430920-15102001>
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 |
| Intel | ( INTC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
25.31 | 67,144m | 128,708m |
| Merrill Lynch | ( MER | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
53.80 | 6,220m | 9,301m |
| Nextel | ( NXTL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
20.03 | 22,693m | 28,325m |
Institutional
Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume | Today’s Volume |
| Verizon | ( VZ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
36.23 | 6,478m | 9,167m |
| Intuit | ( INTU | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
42.58 | 3,679m | 2,338m |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use
protective stops on class=890430920-15102001> all trades.
Chris Tyler