Wednesday’s Top Stocks
More merger-mania that you can read about everywhere but here swept The Street
on Monday—well, it didn’t clear the way exactly. The S&P 500 was cooperative
enough after finding a premarket bid as it finished up .95% to retest prior
highs on increased but still below-average trade. The Nasdaq Composite however,
although up by a larger percentage at 1.30%, was still lying low, as it notched
an inside day on decreased, below-average trade. Not exactly gangbusters, but
cautious bulls could probably be heard saying ‘yahoo’ after today’s move put
the index back above the 20-day EMA, and potentially giving us something from
which to hang our horns.
The dreaded two-day pullback has turned into something quite a bit larger–the
three-day consolidation. Not an easy session, as the intraday range was tight
and lackluster trade only worsened matters for finding moves that made a whole
lotta ‘cents.’ The good news is that the daily consolidation will break–and
hopefully that break will be to the upside on an enthusiastic bid, much like
last Wednesday. The Nasdaq does have some catching up to do at this point, ’cause
I seriously doubt the S&P will be able to hold the bull all by itself. I
personally still favor the upside, as growth stocks are starting to break out
once more while the Nasdaq tries to regain its footing. Furthermore, as previously
mentioned—the corrective action that we saw in the Naz was just that, as the
move was contained by a 6.5% decline right into technical supports worthy of
watching for pullback entries within the market’s confirmed rally. If none of
that makes any ‘cents’, just keep to the disciplined, consistent daytrading
tactics that got you this far in the first place, and let someone else wonder
whether or not the next market move will produce a moo or a boo.
Volatility Readings:
| Volatility Index | Close | Net Change | Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average | Significance |
| VXO ( $VXO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
15.56 | down .07 | na | 3% below | not at extreme |
| VXN ( $VXN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
23.85 | down .29 | na | 4% below | not at extreme |
Hottest Sectors : Semiconductor
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Gold/Silver (XAU)
Weakest Sectors : Biotech
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Wednesday’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 |
| Symx Technologies | ( SMMX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
28.53 | Engulfing bullish bar w/in daily consolidation on increased, above-average (IAA) volume |
171 | 384 |
| Petroleum Development | ( PETD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
24.65 | Top of range consolidation on IAA volume inside of weekly consolidation pattern |
415 | 579 |
| Inter Parfum | ( IPAR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
28.90 | Top of range consolidation on IAA volume on daily chart b/o attempt of weekly high level base |
345 | 943 |
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 |
| Sohu.com | ( SOHU | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
27.99 | Bottom of range consolidation on IAA volume, approaching daily chart pivot test |
3,116 | 3,362 |
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 |
| Qualcomm | ( QCOM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
59.55 | 8,814 | 7,827 |
| Computer Associates | ( CA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
27.93 | 3,325 | 2,490 |
| Agilent | ( A | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
37.49 | 3,194 | 2,788 |
Institutional Laggards.
| Name | Symbol | Price | Average Volume 000’s | Today’s Volume |
| Amazon | ( AMZN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
45.53 | 10,134 | 11,002 |
| Veritas | ( VRTS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
33.04 | 6,035 | 5,169 |
Best of luck to everyone. Please use protective stops on all trades.
Chris Tyler