Watch This Key Support In Biotech
The AMEX Biotech index
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is closing in on 50-day simple
moving average: BTK continues to touch new session highs with a 4.8% intraday
gain. Currently trading at 340, look for initial overhead at 343 which
represents its 50-day simple moving average. That’s followed by subsequent
overhead at 350. The favorable intraday tone would be placed in question on a
failure to hold initial support in the area of 333. Sector components
contributing to the move include: Affymetrix
(
AFFX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Celera
Genomics
(
CRA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Human Genome Sciences HGSI, Protein Design
Labs
(
PDLI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Chiron
(
CHIR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
On the first trading day of the week,
stocks are in positive territory
after opening up lower. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is on the rise for a third day, as some investors are hoping that the gains will
reflect the start of a sustained rally.
Drug stocks
(
$DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) including Wyeth
(
WYE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) are positive after a judge upheld patents on AstraZeneca
Plc’s
(
AZN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) ulcer drug, dealing a blow to competitors that are selling
generic versions.
The S&P 500 rose 1.63, or 0.2%, to 836.26 as of 11:49 a.m. in
New York. Drugmakers contributed almost the entire gain. The Dow
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) opened lower, but at the midway point it
was trading positive. The Nasdaq Composite
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
positive.
Indexes are between gains and losses and trading is about 20% below
last week’s level as the bond market is closed for the Columbus Day holiday.
Retailing is also stronger with Utilities being one of the weakest sectors on
the day.
General Motors Corp. had the biggest loss in the Dow after a Merrill Lynch &
Co. analyst said automakers’ profits may shrink next year. Boeing Co. dropped
after the plane maker lost the industry’s biggest order this year to a rival.
TXU Corp. tumbled after cutting its quarterly dividend by 80% to save
cash.
J2 Global Communications
(
JCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
breaking out above resistance to hit a 52-week high with increasing volume. JCOM
has a
TradingMarkets.com RS3 rating of 98.
Shuffle Master
(
SHFL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
has broken above the 20.00 resistance level with increasing volume. SHFL has a
TradingMarkets.com RS3 rating of 89.
Mid-Atlantic
Medical
(
MME |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is rallying to a 52-week high with strong volume. MME has
a
TradingMarkets.com RS3 rating of 96.
Nasdaq Market Breadth
Adv: 1554 UpVol: 3805183
Dec: 1439 DnVol: 2522806
Net: +115 Net: +1282377
NYSE Market Breadth
Adv: 1572 UpVol: 41411940
Dec: 1511 DnVol: 28002258
Net: +61 Net: +13409682