Wednesday’s Top Stocks
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Neil’s ‘Diamonds’ and the rest of our ETF friends ushered in a beautiful ‘September Morning,’
as traders headed back to their trading desks from their summer hibernation with their shovels in hand as they scooped up equities. The multi-week trading ranges were broken as the index proxies put in gains of 1.11% to 1.43% on strong relative volume. Equally good were the confirming market breadth statistics, including advancers over decliners by a solid 2.2:1 ratio. With the exception of the semiconductors (heck, can you really blame ’em?), the rally was marked by broad sector participation, and elicited a great, big ‘YAHOO’ from most market bulls everywhere…sorry goldbugs.
The game looked very good today, as investors and traders took their respective seats and started bidding. It’s so nice to see the boys of summer flexing some muscle somewhere besides the local beach. Yes, volume wasn’t spectacular, but on a relative basis with existing bullish price bias in the indices as well as our leading growth stocks, a strong case was made for the bulls in today’s session. You’ll probably hear a lot of ‘this market is extended’ from all the naysayers out there, but personally I have a tendency to keep it simple by listening to what the charts are saying, and not listening to all of our ‘unwelcome’ guests in the various media outlets. The vast majority of sectors, and individual issues are saying, ‘North’ when looking at both the daily and weekly pictures. Throw in some tortured bears, those waiting for ‘the next pullback’, momentum players, mix ’em all together and you have a recipe that smells a lot like a bunch of bull.
Just say ‘mooove.’ Yeah, it’s nice when the 401k wins simultaneously, but if you’re gonna play the game consistently you have to stay ready to play from both sides. Trade has been dominated by a bullish bias, and corresponding longs, but at some point in the not so distant future, it will probably come in handy to have both your High and Low RS lists of stocks ready. We never know when the next curve ball is gonna strike, but if we keep our feet firmly grounded and our eyes focused, we can take a solid swing at just about anything that the market throws our way.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VIX ( $VIX.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
19.95 | up .46 | none | 0% above | Not At Extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
30.06 | up .54 | CVR 1,5 Buy | 3% above | Not At Extreme |
Hottest Sectors :Â Broker/Dealers (XBD) and
Software
(
SWH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Weakest Sectors : Oil Services
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
Gold/Silver (XAU)
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 | Avg. Vol. in 000’s |
Today’s Volume |
| Ivax | ( IVX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
20 | Close top of range consolidation at daily handle b/o levels |
1,259 | 1,351 |
| Computer Associates | ( CA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
26.47 | Top of range consolidation, breaking out of 6-week congestion pattern and thru 200-Week EMA |
3,184 | 3,240 |
| Andrews | ( ANDW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
12.65 | 1.5 Month cup and handle b/o by 1% | 2,626 | 1,528 |
| Ask Jeeves | ( ASKJ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
19.70 | 6-Week cup and handle b/o on volume, to close in top of range consolidation |
2,379 | 4,976 |
| Talk America | ( TALK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
13.50 | Closing at 12-week congestion b/o levels on volume, and above the 200-Week EMA |
414 | 721 |
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 in 000’s |
Today’s Volume |
| Weatherford | ( WFT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
36.89 | Low level consolidation in Low RS stock, at daily price supports on heavy volume |
1,569 | 2,522 |
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 in 000’s |
Today’s Volume |
| Westell | ( WSTL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
8.45 | Wide range volume bar thru daily pivots to close in top of range consolidation. A 20/50-Day EMA crossover is near triggering for further confirmation |
1,416 | 987 |
| SBC | ( SBC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
22.49 | Inside ‘doji’ on volume on test of daily supports |
8,519 | 10,614 |
| Doubleclick | ( DCLK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
11.36 | Engulfing daily w/volume, forming intraday and daily cup and handle patterns |
1,585 | 1,145 |
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 in 000’s |
Today’s Volume |
| Merrill Lynch | ( MER | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
54.98 | 5,788 | 5,751 |
| EchoStar | ( DISH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
33.85 | 2,479 | 3,344 |
| Amgen | ( AMGN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
67.84 | 8,066 | 8,627 |
| Amazon | ( AMZN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
47.33 | 8,802 | 9,412 |
| Mercury Interactive | ( MERQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
45.91 | 2,907 | 3,679 |
Institutional
Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume in 000’s |
Today’s Volume |
| 3m Company | ( MMM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
140.15 | 2,022 | 3,245 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use
protective stops on class=890430920-15102001> all trades.
Chris Tyler