Tuesday’s Top Stocks
Investors might be anticipating some turkey in a couple of days, but today
it was all about the beef–just say ‘mooove!!’ Our ETF friends smiled upon those
cautious (were they really?) bulls that enjoy the opportunity to buy their favorite
stocks on pullbacks within the market’s ‘still-confirmed rally,’ We can probably
emphasize that point as the futures were bid up in the pre-market and never
really looked back, as the index proxies finished up between 1% to 2.75% on
increased volume. Yeah, it wasn’t above-average trade, but considering the combined
ratio of advancers over decliners coming in at 2.67 to 1, the move happened
off a nice week-long test of supports, and the fact that it is a holiday-abbreviated
week–I don’t think you can honestly call today’s action a turkey.
I personally would have appreciated a nice lethargic opening given my upside
bias coming into today’s trade. But, even with the gap, which meant potentially
having to ‘chase’ some of the action, all in all, the market was still ‘in a
giving mood’, as stated in Friday’s report. Of course, you had to know what
you really wanted, because they never make it easy– but had you been listening
to the price-and-volume action of the past week, rather than the antics on TV,
or the occasional market tip that one might find from well-meaning souls in
their e-mails, you should have been prepared to take advantage of at least some
of today’s upside bias.
The unfortunate part is, if you didn’t act quickly, most of the action took
place without you, and now we can probably expect either some lateral or pullback
consolidation movement back into today’s thrust bar higher. With the move, we
have quickly recouped (doesn’t that always seem to happen?) approximately two-thirds
of the move down (or a Fib retracement of 62%) with the Volatility indices doing
their best impression of a swan dive. That’s why you’ve got to take it when
it’s being ‘given’, not when the headlines tell you the coast is clear. Keeping
to my M.O. of ‘cautious bull’ that has served us so well, but more so after
a nice move in the intended direction–remember to keep it real. That means
keep the profits in your pocket, and continue to do the prudent scaling-out
thing, especially when ‘it feels so good’ to be on the right side of the trade.
But, just in case you can’t handle any of the above truths, continue to stick
with the ‘Usual Suspects’ that got us this far in the first place–namely disciplined,
consistent daytrading tactics.
I was ready, but I also had to adjust to reflect the changing market conditions.
To trade consistently on an intraday basis, you have to be willing to adjust
more than the other guy wearing the bigger time-frame goggles. Heck, I was prepared
to keep our subscribers ready with a plethora of good-looking charts setting
up for long entries–unfortunately, with the market a bit too enthusiastic this
a.m., that plan needed some definite tweaking as many of my stocks were already
well past the intended high-probability entry zone. What can you do? All that
you ever do, keep looking for the next classic continuation or reversal setup
within today’s ‘confirmed rally.’ Who knows? Maybe one day again, we’ll be doing
the exact same thing, but within something called a Bear Market. Hmmm…sounds
vaguely familiar, but in today’s trade, thinking about ‘what once was’, was
definitely no gift in the very real present.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VXO ( $VXO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
17.15 | down 2.74 | none | 8% below | not at extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
27.04 | down 2.04 | none | 3% below | not at extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Semiconductors
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Internet
(
HHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors :Â Oil Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Gold/Silver (XAU)
Tuesday’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 |
| Hot Topic | ( HOTT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
29.60 | top of range close w/in 1% of weekly high level base triggers on strong, increased volume |
889 | 1,249 |
| Celgene | ( CELG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
45.60 | high of day close on increased, above-average volume, breaking above angular downtrend line in high level base |
1,758 | 2,830 |
| Odessey Healthcare | ( ODSY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
35.90 | High volume handle b/o w/ cup attempt, closing in high level intraday consolidation |
476 | 2,027 |
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 |
| Bradley Pharmaceuticals | ( BDY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
22.64 | ‘Closing basis’ break of weekly range supports on increased, above-average trade |
459 | 845 |
| Surmodics | ( SRDX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
20.97 | Bottom of range close w/in trading range of Low RS issue. Stochastics crossover and failure at 20-Day EMA as technical support of inherent weakness |
679 | 495 |
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 |
| Veritas | ( VRTS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
37.29 | 6,169 | 7,463 |
| Yahoo | ( YHOO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
41.78 | 13,312 | 12,299 |
Institutional Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Marvell Technology | ( MRVL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
38.38 | 3,173 | 4,552 |
| Merck | ( MRK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
42.09 | 8,455 | 16,498 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use protective stops on all trades.
Chris Tyler