Defiant Ariba

When a market is
looking weak, you always have to read and interpret what all the technical clues
are saying. But even if they’re all unanimously in agreement that the market is
set up to go lower, you should always have a wild card in your back pocket in
case the market does the unexpected.

A wild card in a weak market is a
stock that displays relentless strength as the market sells off. Generally, I am
not an advocate of being long an individual stock if the rest of the market is
weak–no matter how well the stock itself is performing.

But I am in favor of keeping these
defiant stocks close at hand, just in case the market turns around. Strong
stocks such as these will likely rise as leaders, in the event that a market
turnaround occurs.

One stock I am watching closely today
is Ariba
(
ARBA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
.

As we get into the final hour of
trading, ARBA seems to be holding up well, in spite of the weakness in the
Nasdaq. I can only guess what it might do into the close. The important thing,
however, is that its uptrend has remained intact over the past two months and
the breakout from three days ago has not failed in spite of weakness we’re
seeing in today’s Nasdaq. If I see the Nasdaq turn around and go green by the
closing bell and ARBA holding onto its gains, I would consider ARBA to be a
viable trading candidate.

Until tomorrow,

Eddie Kwong