Yesterday was very quiet until the last hour, when
program buying
bumped stocks up into the close. But the market remains narrow–the big techs led the way once
again. Right now, only 34 percent of stocks are over their 200-day moving averages. I’m sticking
strictly to day trading–no overnight positions.
I want to stay in the favorite stocks, in the favorites groups, that have the program
sponsorship. Until the market climate changes and breadth improves, opportunities will continue
to be in the same “nifty” 20 or 30 stocks the institutions keep running.
Yesterday’s retail stocks were mixed. Abercrombie
& Fitch [ANF>ANF] moved up 2 1/4, and TJX [TJX>TJX] broke out of its symmetrical triangle to close
up at 29 15/16. And although Walgreen [WAG>WAG] and Wal-Mart [WMT>WMT] were down 1/16 and
even on the day, respectively, they both made higher highs and higher lows–and the higher lows
were a good point above the prior day’s lows. Look for continuation in these stocks. The same
holds true for Gap [GPS>GPS]. It closed down, but it’s a popular stock; if the institutions come
in on any kind of pullback pattern, I want to be in, too.
Target Stocks Of The Day  All the controversy surrounding IBM [IBM>IBM]
has resulted in some nice movement recently. Look for some “good spin” to start coming out on
Big Blue
again as
Wall Street vies for their investment banking business. I like IBM on any kind of pullback.
EMC [EMC>EMC] and Amgen [AMGN>AMGN]–two of our core stocks–continue to give us two or three
moves a day. Until they fall out of favor, stay with them.