When Major Indices Are Slow, The Focus List Can Be Productive

• May 14, 2004
• Kevin Haggerty

What Thursday’s Action Tells
You

There is nothing to write home about after
yesterday’s market action, or lack of, relative to traders. The SPX
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was almost unchanged at 1096, the Dow
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.3% at
10,011, the Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) unchanged at 1926, and the
(
QQQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)s -0.7%
to a 35 close. NYSE volume was the lowest of the past five days at 1.4
billion,
the volume ratio neutral for the second day at 47, and the 4 MA now 48.
Breadth
was also neutral at -202, as is the 4 MA of -196. Nothing to read into
there.

The
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which has been short-term
oversold, was +0.9% and the CYC 0.6%, with basics like
(
DOW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
IP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
(
DE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) all closing green as did the XLBs. The
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)s closed
at
36.88, -1.1%.

The QQQ,
(
SPY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
(
DIA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) all traded
more
than their average volume, as did the SMHs, so there were some players, but
certainly not enough emotion from the economic news to get the
“game” into high
gear. You didn’t even have to put your helmet on yesterday.

 

Â	Friday 5/7	Monday 5/10	Tuesday 5/11	Wednesday 5/12	Thursday 5/13
IndexÂ
SPX Â
HighÂ	1117.33	1098.70	1095.69	1097.55	1102.77
LowÂ	1098.63	1079.63	1087.12	1076.32	1091.76
CloseÂ	1098.69	1087.12	1095.49	1097.26	1096.47
%Â	-1.4	-1.1	+0.8	+0.2	-.07
RangeÂ	18.7	19.1	8.6	21.2	11.0
% RangeÂ	0	39	97	95	43
INDUÂ	10117	9990	10019	10045	10012
%Â	-1.2	-1.3	+0.3	+0.3	-0.3
Nasdaq Â	1918	1896	1931	1926	1926
%Â	-1.0	-1.1	+1.8	-0.3	0
QQQÂ	34.97	34.67	35.19	35.26	35.01
%Â	-0.8	-0.9	+1.5	+0.2	-0.7
NYSEÂ
T. VOLÂ	1.65	1.91	1.53	1.70	1.41
U. VOLÂ	182	276	1.19	851	658
D. VOLÂ	1.45	1.62	318	807	739
VRÂ	11	15	79	51	47
4 MAÂ	37	26	31	39	48
5 RSIÂ	23	17	33	36	35
ADVÂ	259	353	2703	1732	1559
DECÂ	3184	3099	682	1589	1761
A-DÂ	-2925	-2746	+2021	+143	-202
4 MAÂ	-1128	-1941	-1434	-877	-196
SECTORSÂ
SMHÂ	+1.2	+1.0	+2.7	-1.3	-1.1
BKXÂ	-2.4	-1.6	+0.4	+1.3	+0.1
XBDÂ	-2.7	-0.5	+2.3	+0.5	-0.3
RTHÂ	-2.1	+1.0	0	+0.4	-0.5
CYCÂ	-2.5	-1.7	+1.5	+0.1	+0.6
PPHÂ	-0.6	-1.5	0	+0.2	-0.6
OIHÂ	-2.9	-2.9	+1.2	+0.4	+0.9
BBHÂ	-1.8	-1.4	+1.7	+1.2	+0.2
TLTÂ	-1.3	-0.2	+0.5	-0.7	-0.4
XAUÂ	-4.3	+2.4	+1.9	-1.0	-0.8

^next^

For Active
Traders

The major indices opened down after the
economic
reports, but not nearly enough after the 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET run-up
yesterday to make it exciting. However, the SPY, after trading to 109.65,
did
run to 110.80 by the 11:45 a.m. bar. This corner played neither the gap
pullback
nor that move up. After a mystery move like yesterday, I want something more
defined or extended. There was no shutout pitch, however, as the 110.80 SPY
move
was right to the 816 line on your five-minute chart, which is the equivalent
of
the 34 EMA on your 120-minute chart. This was also the 1.272 extension of
the
leg down from 110.53 on Wednesday to 109.65 yesterday morning. That trade
was
taken, but it only traded down to 109.67 and the 240 EMA before a sideways
zone
from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

There were a few good opportunities from the
focus list, however, with
(
ZMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) breaking above the previous high of
80.29 to
81.69, then fading to an 81.31 close.
(
SYK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the same kind of play
above
100.09 to 102.46.
(
APOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which has been trading around its three-month
2.0
rising standard deviation band for the past four days, had an up
Trap Door
play
above 88.98 to 91.43. When the major indices are slow, hammer those keys and
scroll.

Today’s
Action   

The major index levels went almost unchanged
relative to yesterday’s levels of interest where there might be some kind of
price action, so they carry over to today. I am doing this Thursday night
for
Friday morning, so I don’t know what the media and news brings
us.

Have a good trading day and a great weekend.
If
it’s slow in the morning, shut it down and hit the links.

Kevin Haggerty