The stock market had a choppy day with the indices backing off into the close not too far from the session lows, although they did bounce in the last five minutes to improve results, but still it was negative results today.
Net on the day, the Dow was down 27.02 at 12,938.67, the S&P 500 down 4.55 to 1357.66, and the Nasdaq 100 down 10.46 at 2579.78.
Advance-declines were about 3 to 2 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and about 2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 2 to 1 negative on New York, and Nasdaq had a 3 to 1 negative volume ratio.
It was quite the negative day today, not drastically so, but a decisively negative day indeed.
TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mostly down, but there were a few interesting large-cap gainers today. Leading the way, HealthStream, Inc. (HSTM), which we traded today, was up 5.21 to 22.55, or 30%. TOP Ships Inc. (TOPS) got as high as 5.19, but closed up 67 cents to 3.84, or 21%. Sourcefire, Inc. (FIRE), which was on fire today, was up 9.36 to 45.18, or 26% on 5.6 million shares, and KongZhong Corporation (KONG) 92 cents to 5.16, or 22%. Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (THLD) rose 1.02 to 6.03, or 20%, on 16.4 million shares, with Spanish Broadcasting System (SBSA) 59 cents to 5.79, or 11%, and Shanda Games Limited (GAME) 37 cents to 4.30, or 10%.
Chico's FAS, Inc. (CHS) blasted 2.13 to 14.94, Community Health Systems, Inc. (CYH) jumped 3.19 to 23.85, and Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) was up 4.17 to 48.86.
Other gainers of note included Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) up 1.42 to 21.78, Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH) up 1.10 to 17.40, The Medicines Company (MDCO) 1.44 to 22.28, Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) 4.35 to 66.81, Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH) 3.84 to 69.44, Mosaic Company (MOS) 1.89 to 58.80, and Rackspace Hosting, Inc (RAX) 1.46 to 53.71.
On the downside, Apple Inc. (AAPL) lost 1.81 to 513.04, and traded as high as 515.50. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) didn't participate either, down 2.27 to 114.36, and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) fell 5.00 to 112.40.
The Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) ultra-long was down 1.42 to 59.79, and the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) lost 2.95 to 88.60.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices opened slightly lower, snapped back to the session highs early on, and then retested, bounced, and made lower lows, reaching the lows for the day just around noon. They rallied to midday, could not make higher highs, and then rolled over into the close to retest the lows, but did not break them. Wedge-type patterns did form on the indices today, perhaps a consolidation or perhaps precursor to more downside.
We'll have to see how it goes tomorrow.
Good Trading!
Harry