First And Ten
The
Nasdaq
100
(
NDX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) starts out the year with
a first and ten. The index closed at 2342 at year end, and declined 9.1%
yesterday to 2129. A 10% rally is needed to get back to “go.” The
(
QQQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)s opened at 58 5/16, then traded below Friday’s 58 low to 57.75, back
up to 58 5/8, then, on the fifth five-minute bar, reversed the 58 low again,
trading down to an intraday low of 52.5 by 3:45 p.m., before closing at 53 7/16.
There was a good second-entry short on a
continuation move below the previous day’s low.Â
Twenty eight of the NDX 100
stocks closed down between 10%-25%, with the biggest losers being
(
VRTS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-25%,
(
ITWO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -21%,
(
SEBL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -20%,
(
NTAP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -20% and
(
ADBE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -20%.
The storage flap also took
(
EMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 18% on 55% more than its 30-day
average volume, while NTAP declined on +33%. Â
Other S&P 500 stocks
that declined on heavy volume were
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -13% on 100% more than its
average, and
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -8% on 121% more. Heavy or light volume, they still had no
liquidity, as a
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) declined 9% on 30% less than its average 30-day
volume. The beaten-down telecoms were green all day, as
(
WCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed up
13.3%, along with
(
FON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +8.3% and
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +5.8%.
Relative to the market, the
semis also acted good. At 2:30 p.m., with the NDX down 181 points, the SOX and
SMHs were green, along with seven of the major semis.
(
AMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +4.1%,
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+3.4% and
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.3%, led the group.
(
KLAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also finished green. The
others fell to small red in the last hour, but did better than the S&P 500.
face=”arial, helvetica”>(March Futures) | ||
Fair | size=2>Buy | size=2>Sell |
15.80 | Â 17.00Â | Â 14.20Â |
Stocks Today
The best volatility plays
will come from the list of the chosen ones that got whacked yesterday. On the
upside, early entry might be above the 8-period moving average of the highs, and
shorts below yesterday’s lows with tight stops. If they take some of the chosen
ones up in the first half hour, there could be some short opportunities as they
might retrace yesterday’s lows.Â
The other group to focus on
because of the volatility in yesterday’s action, is the semis. You have several
lists of the chosen ones and the semis from last week. Save your screens on the
S&P 500 and NDX 100 for the first two weeks, so you can follow the Generals’
money flow. You will have many intraday opportunities in the semis, chosen ones
and QQQs, so load them all up in your intraday charts and keep scrolling.
Have a good trading day and
be sure to book early for my next seminar,
to be held Feb. 23-25, 2001, in Naples, Fla.
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