The market had a very strong election-day rally today. Although there was
some volatility, the market ended up closing at the highs for the day going
away, especially on the blue chips.
The day started out with a big gap up. They pulled back sharply after they
opened, held support and then rallied extremely sharply and reached the session
highs on the Nasdaq 100 by late morning. The S&P 500 reached a temporary
high there as well. They came down, retested, and could not break through a
second time and then rolled over in a 3-wave decline, giving back about half the
gains on the Dow and S&P 500 and about two-thirds on Nasdaq. However, the
mid-afternoon sharp drop held secondary support, and they rallied sharply and
spiked up into the close.
Net on the day the Dow was up 305, the S&P 500 up 39 1/2, and the Nasdaq
100 up 43 1/2. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up about 4
percent, or 10.61 today.
The technicals were very positive, with advance-declines ahead by 4 to 1 on
New York and 9 to 5 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 6 to 1 positive on
New York on total volume of 1.3 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.3 billion and had a
ratio of nearly 5 to 1 positive on advancing over declining volume.
TheTechTrader.com board had a terrific session. Leading the way were the
agriculture stocks, with Potash (POT) up 9.11 to 94.07 on 19 million shares.
That's now up 33 points off its low from last week, a fantastic rebound. Other
stocks in that group, Agrium (AGU) at 40.22 was up 2.22, Mosaic (MOS) at 41.74
up 4.49 and CF Industries (CF) at 60.49 up 2.22.
The USO, up 4.79 to 57.28, had a strong session today as oil jumped more than
$7 a barrel.
The EWZ Brazilian ETF had a fantastic session, reaching our trading target
over 42. It got as high as 43.35 but closed at 42.60, up 3.81. The DIG oil &
gas ETF was also up sharply, closing at 38.11, up 4.11. The QLD was up 2.12 to
37.06.
Apple (AAPL) gained more than 4 points today to near 111. Alpha Natural
Resources (ANR) was up 1.95, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) 1.60, Energy Conversion
Devices (ENER) 2.80 to 42.14, Excel Maritime (EXM) up 1.39, and Focus Media
(FMCN) up 1.69.
SunPower (SPWR) at 50.50 was up 6.42, and portfolio position Sequenom (SQNM)
up 1.35 to 20.08. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) snapped 1.56 to 28.54.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the market was up
sharply at the get-go, then had a sharp pullback but then a much sharper rally,
and then quite a steep pullback in late afternoon was followed by a late sharp
close and rush to the highs, as the indices closed going away not only at the
session highs but at the entire 4-day rally highs.
So, a very positive session going into tonight's election results. We'll see
how it goes tomorrow, whether the market continues this advance or is
disappointed and trends lower. But right now the trend is your friend and
momentum is strong to the upside and looks like it can continue.
