Wednesday’s Top Stocks
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With the ISM report out in the first half hour of trade, it was all the market needed to break the ‘critical’ technical neckline on the Spyders
(SPY). But sometimes the initial reaction to a report, especially during pre-holiday trade at a level that everyone is watching (you can thank CNBC), just might not be what you had anticipated. And so it went in Tuesday’s ‘show.’ As influential groups were breaking key support levels, it seems that the appropriate course of action was a rally out of various technical intraday consolidations on the
5-Minute chart. Adding fuel to the upside reversal in afternoon trade was news that a judge dismissed a Merrill Lynch
(
MER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) research suit on behalf of dissed investors. Go figure? Henry Blodgett’s one-time favorite stock, Yahoo
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which probably left a lot of investors scorned not so long ago, scored fresh 52-Week Highs. As one of the leaders in the Internet space
(
HHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), the stock was quickly snapped up in afternoon trade along with the rest of its relative strength brethren. Just say ‘Yahoo?’
The ETFs finished up between .75% and 1.25% on volume, and breadth statistics that just aren’t measuring up to the sights to be found at one’s favorite holiday venue. Volume came in slightly lighter than yesterday, although above the action notched during last week’s downward performance. Advancers over decliners meanwhile, were a bit more pretty, as both ‘floors’ showed a bias towards gainers, although with ratios coming in at roughly 1.5:1 for the NYSE and very close to the 1:1 mark, also left something to be desired.
An intraday break through the neckline for the early ‘easy trade’…and then the reversal. Dooh!! It was classic, but admittedly I didn’t play it perfect for our subscribers. I ‘threw out’ range breakdowns thru ‘the number’, which worked handily, but the second entry off a pullback from lows, out of an intraday reversal pattern didn’t work quite as well. It was a ‘clean setup’ with solid background evidence, but sometimes you gotta ‘pull up the shorts’ and know when it’s time to leave the ‘john.’ They can’t all work every time, that’s the name of the game, even with consistent daytrading. The real key to consistent daytrading isn’t about being 100% accurate. It’s about cutting losses and being able to take the classic intraday patterns for
‘what they are’, on a consistent basis. That means for exits too, as we are only talking about the 5-Minute chart, and not something potentially bigger…are we now?
We use the big picture for potential confirmation whenever possible, but when executing our list of High and Low RS stocks out of intraday setups, we are keenly aware of what is happening in the here and now. It’s called the ‘present’ for a reason, but that’s only if we are willing to accept the gift while it’s there for the taking.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VIX ( $VIX.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
21.29 | down .33 | none | 3% below | Not At Extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
30.22 | down 1.01 | CVR 6 Sell | 5% below | Not At Extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Semiconductors
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Gold
& Silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors : Oil Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
Biotechs
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Wednesday’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 |
| Avid Technology | ( AVID | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
36.41 | Outside day to close at top of range on strong volume |
720k | 806k |
| China.com | ( CHINA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
9.25 | 52-Week high on volume to close in upper part of range |
2,761m | 15,635m |
| Marvell Technology |
( MRVL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
36.50 | 52-Week high on volume, closing top of range |
3,415m | 6,344m |
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 |
| Laboratory Corp. | ( LH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
29.67 | Low RS issue testing daily technical supports with volume increase |
1,908m | 1,146m |
| New Century Financial | ( NCEN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
40.78 | Bottom of range close thru daily technical supports on volume |
811k | 2,053m |
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 |
| Linear Technologies | ( LLTC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
33.04 | Hammer close above daily price resistance of trading range, on volume |
7,282m | 7,138m |
| Mercury Interactive | ( MERQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
40.12 | Outside day reversal to close near top of daily chart trading range, on volume increase |
3,646m | 3,895m |
class=890430920-15102001>
Short
Reversals
Closing Basis.
None Today.
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 |
| eBay | ( EBAY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
106.60 | 6,860m | 8,433m |
| Yahoo | ( YHOO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
33.64 | 12,932m | 9,989m |
| Goldman Sachs | ( GS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
85.85 | 4,550m | 5,920m |
| QLogic | ( QLGC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
49.32 | 5,933m | 4,434m |
| Network Appliances | ( NTAP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
16.67 | 7,060m | 5,748m |
Institutional
Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume | Today’s Volume |
| Walgreens | ( WAG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
30.23 | 3,766m | 5,744m |
| Cerner | ( CERN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
21.78 | 701k | 1,276m |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use
protective stops on class=890430920-15102001> all trades.
Chris Tyler