Unless You’re Trading These Areas, You Might Want To Get A Head Start On The Holidays

December 17, 2003
Dave Landry

Looking to the indices, on Wednesday, the Nasdaq chopped
back and forth. This action keeps it below its 50-day moving
average. It appears to be forming a sideways trading range.

The S&P put in a somewhat similar performance but did
managed to close in the plus column. This action keeps it at a new closing high for the
year.

So what do we do?
Nothing much has changed.
Longer-term, the strongest areas remain mostly commodity related/cyclical stocks
such as chemicals, energy, and metals & mining (less gold & silver).
Tech remains soft. Retail did come roaring back but so far, still looks
vulnerable. As far as trading, narrow/choppy trading suggests a lack of
conviction as the holiday shortened week draws closer. Considering the above,
focus on the stronger areas but keep positions light as trading will likely be
thin and choppy for the remainder of the week.

Looking to potential setups, Air Products
(
APD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), in the
aforementioned strong chemicals, looks poised to continue its persistent up
thrust from lows out of a pullback/TKO.