Semi Favor…Again?

• April 16, 2002
• Kevin Haggerty

There
was a small divergence yesterday, as
the Dow
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was -1.0%, the SPX
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.8%, while the NDX
(
$NDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) went +0.2%. NYSE volume was below average and light at 1.1
billion, a volume ratio of 40, and breadth negative at -418. The Nasdaq and NDX
volume was extremely light at approximately 25% below average. FYI: The Nasdaq
numbers in yesterday’s
text have been corrected. 

The war sectors flared up
again for the day, with the
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.9% and the
(
$XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.8%.
The
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) finished +2.0%, and we had good trades in
(
NVLS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
LTXX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
(
ESRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). Novellus had first quarter earnings
news after the close and traded up to 53.98, or +3.6%.
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was +1.9% and
(
KLAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.2%. Today we have Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reporting after the close, in
addition to many of the big basics both before and after the open. 

The early morning read is
certainly green, with the semis all plus in pre-market trading. We’ve been there
before. The semis as you know are the major sector we need to get going to
rekindle some confidence in the tech sector. 

The S&P futures are
+9, Nasdaq +18 and Dow +66 as I do this, so we start out with gap ups certainly
in the semis, where I would think some shorts are trapped to some extent. 

Stocks
Today

Daily chart long setups,
and there’s not as many as you would think because it was a narrow advance
yesterday:
(
NUE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
EXPE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
GILD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
CACI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
CDWC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
CAM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
DGX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
STJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
(
SYMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).

In the semis, pick any of
the majors. They’re all going to be gapped probably, so you’re looking at
pullback setups at best, but you certainly want to be in equipment stocks
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
NVLS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
(
KLAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and also some of the semis that have
plenty of room to run, like
(
BRCM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
(
XLNX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), just to
mention a few. But they’re all in the same position. Don’t chase any of the gap
openings. 

Have a good trading day.

Five-minute chart of
Monday’s SPX with 8-, 20-,
60- and 260-period
EMAs

Five-minute chart of
Monday’s NYSE TICKS