Wednesday’s Stock Watch
The market is off to a
positive start for the week as the major indexes put in accumulation
days on Tuesday. The Dow and S&P 500 closed firmly above their 200 simple day
moving averages, and the Nasdaq above its 20-day simple moving average.
With earnings to the forefront of market
perspective, this is a key week with 1/3 of the Dow Industrials reporting.
Tuesday proved to be a mixed bag as General Motors expressed uncertainty about
meeting its targets for the year, though IBM posted better than expected
revenue, which translated into a nice upside move for the stock. Also standing
out, chip stock Novellus issued a profit warning that had the semiconductor
index open lower though showed strength as it ended the day in positive
territory. We’re always looking for leadership from the semis.
Stocks on our watch list are doing well. We’re
seeing new 52-week highs, and we’ve added a couple of selections to the
"handles" list.
From Tuesday’s action:
Market breadth was positive, with NYSE
advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.91, and up volume over
down volume by a 2.05 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues came
in at 1.30, and up volume beat down volume by a 1.45 ratio.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
closed +0.61%
at 8,402.36. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed
+5.58%
at 890.81.
The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed
+0.43%
at 1,391.01.

2,021
1,742
Declining Issues
1,053
1,324
956,330,000
737,450
Declining Volume
428,789,000
514,564
Total
Volume
1,396,882,000
1,280,966,000
Highs
32
32
7
2
Strongest Sectors:
Media (cable/satellite), Internet -(e-commerce), Internet (service providers),
Internet (content), Semiconductors, Telecoms (fiber optics).
Watch List Action:
Matching its 52-week high, our most recent breakout UCBH Holdings
(
UCBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
put in an accumulation day as it moved on from its 2 for 1 stock split made last
week. Though the stock has recently put in three distribution days, new highs
here will be very encouraging.

Hitting an all time high, Career Education Corp.
(
CECO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) moved
further from its pivot buy point, though did not produce volume over 50% its
average needed for a buy. Corinthian Colleges
(
COCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) made a similar
move as it passed through its pivot buy. We’ll see if these stocks pull back and
setup again, but so far these are duds to us.

Recent Breakouts
size=2>We monitor the action of Recent Breakouts as an indicator of
the market health for IT traders. When breakouts are acting well, this is a good
sign for the likelihood of further sustainable breakouts. When breakouts are
failing, IT traders should be even more cautious.
| color=#ffffff size=2>Company Name | color=#ffffff size=2>Symbol | color=#ffffff size=2>12 Month RS | color=#ffffff size=2>Price | color=#ffffff size=2>Price Change | color=#ffffff size=2>Average Volume | Pivot | 52-Week High |
Apollo Group | ( APOL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 91 | 53.35 | +0.31 | 1,940,400 | 46.89 | 53.75 |
Coach Inc. | ( COH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 94 | 38.28 | -0.14 | 1,154,900 | 28.35 | 39.99 |
Expeditors International of Washington | ( EXPD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 78 | 35.57 | +1.57 | 1,034,900 | 34.54 | 38.00 |
Garmin Ltd. | ( GRMN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 96 | 38.20 | +1.40 | 517,400 | 23.46 | 38.25 |
International Game Technology | ( IGT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 87 | 81.53 | +1.10 | 1,307,900 | 74.84 | 87.20 |
UCBH Holdings | UCBH Holdings | 86 | 24.49 | +0.16 | 155,600 | 22.60 | 24.54 |
Stocks Forming a Handle
| color=#ffffff size=2>Company Name | color=#ffffff size=2>Symbol | color=#ffffff size=2>12 Month RS | color=#ffffff size=2>Price | color=#ffffff size=2>Price Change | color=#ffffff size=2>Average Volume | Pivot |
Boston Scientific | ( BSX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 91 | 43.11 | +0.39 | 2,469,600 | 47.65 |
Chicos FAS | ( CHS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 86 | 22.10 | -0.38 | 1,393,700 | 23.05 |
Career Education Corp. | ( CECO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 89 | 53.90 | +0.76 | 816,700 | 52.70 |
Corinthian Colleges | ( COCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 90 | 42.15 | +1.22 | 1,023,500 | 42.04 |
Centex Corp. | ( CTX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 82 | 59.36 | +0.36 | 1,291,000 | 59.80 |
Hovnanian | ( HOV | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 85 | 38.31 | +0.45 | 487,800 | 38.45 |
New Century Financial | ( NCEN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 88 | 33.35 | +0.40 | 486,100 | 34.90 |
New to the list are BSX and CTX.
CRCO, COCO, and HOV have all hit their pivot
buys, though did not produce the volume needed for a buy trigger.
Stocks Building A Base
color=#ffffff size=2>Company Name | color=#ffffff size=2>Symbol | color=#ffffff size=2>12 Month RS | color=#ffffff size=2>Price | color=#ffffff size=2>Price Change | color=#ffffff size=2>Average Volume | Pivot |
None |
If you are new to the "IT" strategy, be sure to
take a look at our
intermediate-term online trading course.
Intermediate-Term Traders
Report is posted on
Tuesdays and Fridays. For other intermediate-term commentary, be sure to read
Mark Boucher (Fridays),
Tim Truebenbach (Tuesdays and Thursdays), and
Gary Kaltbaum (Mondays and Thursdays).