Wednesday’s Stock Watch
The major indexes snapped a
three day losing streak Tuesday, with volume coming in below average,
and sellers dominating the last hour. From the bullish point of view, it’s more
encouraging to see up days on higher volume with a strong close. We take it day
by day.
We have added three new issues to our watch lists.
Research continues to disappoint with lack of quality names, though successful
breakouts with what we have will bode well for the future. This is still a shaky
environment to go long in. Last week Chicos FAS
(
CHS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) joined a long list of
failed breakouts for this bear.
From Tuesday’s action:
Market breadth was positive, with NYSE
advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.59, and up volume over
down volume by a 2.08 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues came
in at 1.71, and up volume beat down volume by a 9.35 ratio.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
closed +0.32%
at 8386.00. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
closed +0.77% at
882.95.
The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed +2.30% at
1,349.57.
1,886
2,101
Declining Issues
1,165
1,229
883,036,000
1,368,127,000
432,572,000
147,083,000
Total
Volume
1,324,625,000
1,548,010,000
Highs
4
4
18
8
Top sectors:
Short-term: Internet, Telecoms, Software,
Computer Hardware.
Long-term: Gold, Defense, Consumer.
Watch List Action:
Currently the best performer on our “handles” list is International Game
Technology
(
IGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) as it made its second day of accumulation in a week. The
stock has been holding a solid upward trend and remains comfortably above its
50-day moving average. If only all our breakouts would be so cooperative.
Continuing to slide, Hovnanian Enterprises
(
HOV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is keeping pace with the
home building sector, and is trading below its pivot buy point of 32.90. We’ve
been following this breakout since early September, but it looks like we’ll be
saying goodbye soon.
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 | 40.92 | +0.34 | 2,615,000 | 39.60 | 46.15 |
Coach Inc. | ( COH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 93 | 30.50 | +1.99 | 979,000 | 29.80 | 33.09 |
Hovnanian Enterprises | ( HOV | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 97 | 31.45 | -0.60 | 876,900 | 33.56 | 40.56 |
International Game Technology | ( IGT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 91 | 74.99 | +0.59 | 1,077,800 | 75.47 | 78.40 |
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 |
Commerce Bancorp. | ( CBH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 70 | 43.64 | +0.73 | 755,600 | 47.80 |
Expedia | ( EXPE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 97 | 72.35 | +2.63 | 2,378,800 | 76.44 |
Mentor Corp. | ( MNTR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 88 | 39.19 | +0.79 | 240,300 | 41.50 |
Ross Stores Inc. | ( ROST | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 91 | 42.59 | +0.82 | 1,096,000 | 45.59 |
Newly added to the list are EXPE and MNTR.
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 |
Garmin Ltd. | ( GRMN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) | 87 | 22.59 | +0.19 | 152,900 | 24.35 |
GRMN has been added to the list.
href=”mailto:danielb@tradingmarkets.com”>danielb@tradingmarkets.com
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).