The markets had a decent follow-up session to yesterday's big move, but it came after some early morning weakness.
The day started out with the markets down from the get-go, but the down-move was very orderly, telegraphing the possibility they would come on again. When support held, they started to rally strongly mid-morning, particularly on the Nasdaq 100. At that point the NDX popped through the 1870-75 zone, which was key neckline resistance on a 4-week head-and-shoulders bottom, and completed that pattern.
The S&P 500, however, at the point was still below resistance and needed to do some additional work. Later in the session, after some backing and filling mid-day, they came on strongly, and with about an hour to go were at the highs for the day, with the Nasdaq 100 reaching over 1900 and the S&P reaching up to 1291, the same level reached on a couple occasions over the last 4 weeks. That is key overhead resistance. They pulled back for about 30 minutes or so, and then came on again in the last 10 minutes, firming up again.
Net on the day the Dow was up 40.30, the S&P 500 4.31, and the Nasdaq 100 25.45. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 3.87
The technicals were positive but just marginally so on advance-declines, which were ahead just 17 to 14 on New York and about 5 to 3 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 7 to 5 positive on New York on total volume of under 1.3 billion. Nasdaq traded about 2 1/4 billion and had a ratio of about 2 1/2 to 1 positive on advancing over declining volume.
TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but mostly higher with many point-plus gainers today. Leading the way was the shipping group. DryShips (DRYS) was up 3.71, Excel Maritime (EXM) 2.54, and TBS International (TBSI) 3.11.
Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) gained 2.85, MELI up 2.12 and CSIQ 1.46. Chart of the Week Almost Family (AFAM) advanced 2.04, reaching as high as 41 at one point, a very strong performance today.
Recent Chart of the Week VISN jumped 3.11, but the real story was that it was down sharply early in the morning, under 18, then reversed 5 1/2 to 23.35, before settling back to close up 3.11 at 22.71. General Steel (GSI) advanced 60 cents, Chindex (CHDX) snapped back 82 cents, Brigham Exploration (BEXP) 83 cents, and QQQQ up 70 cents.
On the downside, Exide Technologies (XIDE) was down 1.11, and the QID lost 1.27. The DUG was off 1.72, reflecting strength in oil stocks today despite the weaker crude oil action.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices moved higher and broke out on the NDX, but did not do and did not confirm on the S&P, but closed right near key overhead resistance. I'm looking forward to see if additional progress can break out the SPX and confirm the fact that we've put in at least a short-term bottom here.