The indices had a consolidation day ahead of tomorrow's release of the
details of the bailout plan.
The day started out with a move down that held support. They then rallied to
new 3 day rally highs, and backed and filled in a downward slope until
mid-afternoon when they tested the lows. That was successful, and then they
bounced back into the positive side on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 by the end
of the day, but drifted lower in the last 20-30 minutes.
Net on the day it was a mixed session with the Dow down just 9.72, the
S&P 500 up 1.29, and the Nasdaq 100 up 4.16. The Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index (SOXX) was down 1.37.
Advance-declines were positive by about 270 issues on New York and negative
by about 250 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 6 to 5 positive on New York on
lighter total volume of just under 1 1/4 billion. Nasdaq traded about 1.87
billion and with just a slight edge to the positive side in terms of the volume
ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was mixed. On the plus side, Apple (AAPL) had an
excellent day, reaching up near its December rally high, tagging 103 today,
closing at 102.51, up 2.79 on 25 million.
Portfolio position Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) released earnings. The
initial reaction was a move down below 24, but the stock closed at 28.16, up
2.41, a very bullish reversal on 6.4 million.
Hartford Financial Services (HIG) on some positive results closed up 2.35 to
15.03 on 31 million.
A new model portfolio position we added today, Central European Media (CETV),
closed at 9.24, up 1.04 on 1.7 million.
Financials were generally strong, with Bank of America (BAC) reaching over 7,
closing at 6.89, up 76 cents on 457 million. Morgan Stanley (MS) closed up 74
cents at 23.61, but JP Morgan (JPM) was down 35 cents at 27.28.
Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) was up 77 cents to 14.48, and the Direxion
Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) was up 42 cents to 11.13.
On the downside, the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) dropped 1.50. In
the agriculture sector CF Holdings (CF) dropped 1.19, and Potash (POT), after
being up as much as 5 earlier, reversed to close down 2.10 to 89.10. Sequenom
(SQNM) dropped to 17.66, down 81 cents.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices went back
and forth, vacillated and consolidated ahead of tomorrow's bailout details. The
indices at today's highs were a tad overbought and at the Jan rally highs
resistance levels & that leaves them at KEY points in the trend.
