Tug Of War

The techs have held strong all day. After gapping open this
morning, the Nasdaq futures have been trending lower, while the S&Ps are
moving higher.

Another intraday tug of war.

Who will win?

That is the question.

Nasdaq’s move is being led by several of the old name stocks,
including Microsoft, which is up 8 points.

Today’s Tech Watchlist:
(
CIEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
(
CTIC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

Remember when Ciena
(
CIEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

was an $10 stock? It seems like so long ago. Now Ciena is a market leader
that takes charge each time the techs head higher. Once again, it is setting up
for another breakout. Following the most recent pullback, it rallied back to
form a new cup pattern. A new intraday high was set on Tuesday, so there may be
a bit of resistance there. Yet, we will start by watching for a new high close.
Currently, it is trading above the previous closing high, which was set four
weeks ago. The plan: set your alerts for a new closing high, which will ideally
be above the intraday 52-week high, and watch for a continuation move on the
following day. In a perfect world, the move will be backed by significant
volume.

The pattern on Cell Therapeutics
(
CTIC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is similar to that
of Ciena, but it already completed the high-level cup. Following its completion,
we saw a one-day continuation move, which reminded me why daytrading is often
more conservative than holding overnight. It is currently consolidating near the
break level. While the consolidation has lasted but three days, it may be an
adequate pause. Of course, I would prefer to see a longer consolidation, but if
the market is strong, then the biotechs may run, taking CTIC with it. Set your
alerts near Wednesday’s intraday high.


Until later,

Dave Baker