Mildly Amusing
Mildly
amusing is the best way I can describe this market! Down Monday,
but on very light volume, it’s no surprise that we see some sort of rally
attempt into the end of the quarter — you know…”window-dressing
style.” As I write this on Tuesday, we’re in rally mode as the Dow has recovered
almost all of Monday’s loss as it stands.
Until we see evidence otherwise, we
still must assume the market is in rally mode, even if it isn’t making very
much progress higher.
Looking to individual stocks that are
standing out, I have really only seen one amazing performer amongst many others
that are setting up but have yet to show us anything. This one stock managed a 7
½-point gain in Monday’s down market and is hitting a new high, up over 14
points on Tuesday! It is of course, NVR
(
NVR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
The brief, three-week pullback did not offer much of an entry point, so at this
time, it is only nice to see something working. Just don’t forget about Ryland
(
RYL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) in this leading group as it works its way through the fourth week of a
flat base.
One other stock I have been keeping an
eye on has been KLA Tencor
(
KLAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). The
semis looked like they were out for the count about a month ago, and then they
were able to rebound and display strength. I saw this chart over the weekend, as
I was going through stocks. It looked very interesting as to watch which way it
breaks. The only negative I have seen was in the major brokerage that came out
to pump certain semis yesterday, and KLAC was one of them. I do not like those
guys behind stocks I like, since they are usually wrong, (I guess even a broken
clock can be right twice a day!).
JDA Software
(
JDAS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was another name that showed strength yesterday, as it was able to
pull off its lows to close flat for the day. Today, it was one of the first
stocks positive, and now I would like to see it extend its gains. The stock has
been setting up in a 10-week base.
Accredo Health
(
ACDO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has been working
through an eight-week base. The week-ending 3/8 showed some distribution in the
base, but a nice, tight handle or right side may be able to take care of that.
The stock showed good strength when it punched out of its ascending base on
heavy trade in early January.
Autozone
(
AZO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)) has been working on a new base that is in its fourth month of
formation.
There are a few other names I have
spotted setting up, such as Verisity
(
VRST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
Avant
(
AVNT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Christopher
& Banks
(
CHBS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Krispy Kreme
Doughnuts
(
KKD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
but things still remain shaky in most areas of growth. The simple fact remains
that there are not a lot of names to be found breaking out and moving steadily
higher. Don’t get me wrong, we probably won’t see the 90’s again where
things shoot noticeably higher very quickly; but slow steady moves to new highs,
with brief, short consolidations should begin to appear as a bull market
unfolds.
Even though the market is not going
very far right now, it is allowing bases to form. As growth solidifies, these
are the very bases that will offer us good opportunities when the time is right.
Until Thursday,