Counter-Opening Opportunities
Yesterday the
S&P 500 futures were up early and the tail wagged the dog–at
least initially. Stocks gapped on the opening and the Dow shot up over 100 points
in the first hour. After that, though the market sold off until staging a minor rally from
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Then, after hitting the lows of the day around 3:30 p.m., our most reliable trade partner,
the Turk, showed up once again to give us a profitable SPDR trade. It’s becoming an annuity.
Dell [DELL>DELL] will be overdone today–maybe it already is. It sold off in after-hours
trading yesterday and was down to 76 early this morning. Let’s hope for a big down opening;
the first counter-opening move should be good.
Target Stocks Of The Day  Continuation patterns that look good if the market
trades higher include: Gap [GPS>GPS], Ameritech [AIT>AIT], Bell Atlantic [BEL>BEL], Charles
Schwab [SCH>SCH], Abbott Labs
[ABT>ABT], Bank of New York [BK>BK], United Technologies [UTX>UTX], and Circuit City [CC>CC].
These stocks offer entry points above
their previous highs or closes if they’re in consolidations. If the market sells off early,
look for consolidation or trading range patterns to develop–you might get early entry.
Some stocks at or near their highs that could accelerate include: CVS [CVS>CVS],
Chase Manhattan
Bank [CMB>CMB], Allergan [AGN>AGN], Alza Corp. [AZA>AZA], Sepracor [SEPR>SEPR], Zions Bancorp
[ZION>ZION], and Linear Technology [LLTC>LLTC]. But you have to be careful when you play near
the highs. Make sure the stock and market dynamics are with you when you enter a trade.
If you’re trading a volatile or high-priced
stock intraday without adequate execution capabilities, stop now–you can’t win the
game. I will write an article (and answer some e-mail) on execution capabilities for intraday
trading in the near
future.