The stock market indices ended mixed on the session, but most stocks we follow had a pretty good day today. The day started out with a gap to the upside, and they reached their morning highs thereafter. They pulled back into the mid-morning, held support, then rallied to the session highs midday just under 2609 and change on the Nasdaq 100, and just under 1369 on the S&P 500. In the afternoon, they had a bit of a slide that took out the morning lows on the SPX, but held them on the NDX. That resulted in a slow snapback in the last hour that closed the market flat on the Dow.
Net on the day, the Dow was down 1.74 at 12,982.95, while the S&P 500 was up 2.28 to 1365.74, 3 points off the high, and the Nasdaq 100 up 9.28 at 2604.21, 5 points off its high. It closed over 2600 for the first time in a very long time.
Advance-declines were about 16 to 13 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 14 to 11 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 16 to 15 positive on New York, with very light volume of 627 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded about 1.6 billion shares and had a 3 to 2 positive volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was somewhat narrowly mixed, but there were some outstanding stocks today. Leading the way, Chelsea Therapeutics (CHTP) was up 1.47 to 3.88, or 61%, on 20.57 million shares after a drug approval. Low-priced Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX) jumped 30 cents to 1.39, or 27 1/2%, on 28 million shares. Royale Energy Inc. (ROYL) was up 73 cents to 6.05, or 13.7%, on 4.8 million shares. PDF Solutions, Inc. (PDFS) rose 91 cents to 7.70, or 13%, while Callidus Software, Inc. (CALD) gained 84 cents to 7.77, or 12%, on 2.2 million shares, and ChipMOS Technologies (IMOS) 1.63 to 10.63, or 18%, trading nearly 800,000 shares. That's a fairly thinly traded stock to begin with.
VIVUS, Inc. (VVUS) was the star today, up 3.40 to 22.13, or 18%, on 29 million shares. That was a big snapback from yesterday's intraday pullback after it gapped up in the morning.
Ellie Mae, Inc. (ELLI) advanced 1.05 to 8.98, or 13%. Tesco Corporation (TESO) was up 1.35 to 15.76. 51job, Inc. (JOBS) had a big day today, up 5.42 to 50.64, or 12%. AXT Inc. (AXTI) rose 58 cents to 5.68, and W&T Offshore, Inc. (WTI) 2.06 to 26.83.
In addition, RPX Corporation (RPXC) jumped 1.14 to 18.02. OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) was up 1.05 to 17.13, 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) 1.17 to 12.74, Imperial Sugar Co. (IPSU) 43 cents to 6.41, Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. A (QIHU) 1.40 to 19.72, Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ) 2.24 to 50.81, Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) 1.01 to 13.91, and Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) 6.51 to 68.31.
Those were some of the outstanding stocks on our board today.
Mitek Systems, Inc. (MITK) jumped 93 cents to 11.78, or 8 1/2%, on 1.3 million shares. Cyberonics, Inc. (CYBX), which was outstanding today, was up 2.68 to 37.00.
Other gainers of note included Cobalt International Energy (CIE), one of our favorites, up 1.41 to 30.50. Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) gained 42 cents to 14.86, Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (RGR) 1.35 to 43.64, SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) 2.67 to 44.46 ahead of earnings next week, and SXC Health Solutions (SXCI) 3.63 to 70.99.
Also, Cyberonics, Inc. (CYBX) was up 2.68 to 37.00, and Coinstar, Inc. (CSTR) 1.36 to 60.14. Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 6.02 to 522.41 and Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (QCOR) was up 1.44 to 38.90.
On the downside, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), continuing its recent weakness, was down 1.32 to 111.67.
That was the only point-plus loser on our board today.
It was a good day on Wall Street, a good finish to the week, and spectacular trading results for our traders at TheTechTrader.com.
Good Trading!
Harry