(By Harry Boxer) The stock market indices snapped back extending yesterday's late run and closed with gains for the day, although in the last five minutes they did take back a bit of it.
The day started out with a little move down, and snapped back immediately to morning highs the first half hour. They backed off in an orderly stair-step fashion, held support, and then came on again in the afternoon a couple times. From there they could not get through resistance, but managed to do so late in the session before a last five minute pullback peeled them off the highs for the day.
Net of the day, the Dow was up 24.49 at 12,127.95, about 20 points off its high, the S&P 500 was up 7.32 at 1285.50, just 2 points off its high, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 9.37 at 2487.50, which was about 5 points off the high.
Advance-declines were 3 to 1 positive on New York, and 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little more than 4 to 1 positive on New York, with total volume a light 690 million shares traded. Nasdaq traded over 1.5 billion, and had about a 2 1/2 to 1 positive volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher, but it was a mixed picture though as some of the tech stocks went with Google Inc. (GOOG) down 8.18 to 570.41. Apple Inc. (AAPL) lost 1.46 to 562.83. Facebook, Inc. (FB) was down 1.03 to 25.87, setting new post-IPO lows. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) gave back 1.36 to 213.21.
So, it was kind of a rough day for tech stocks.
On the downside, some of the other losers included Rosetta Genomics, Ltd. (ROSG) which went down 1.24 to 12.35. ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) was down 1.55 to 64.52, and the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was down 1.41 to 29.10. These were the only ultra-shorts that were down more than a point on our board today.
On the plus side, Bridgeline Digital, Inc (BLIN), on a contract with United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS), gained 90 cents, or nearly 60%, on 2.2 million shares. Amyris, Inc. (AMRS) gained 64 cents to 2.97, or 27 1/2%, on 2.8 million shares. Westport Innovations Inc. (WPRT) popped 4.75 to 27.02, or 21%, on 6.4 million shares on a deal with Caterpillar Inc. (CAT).
MakeMyTrip Limited (MMYT) gained 2.77 to 15.77, or 21%. Dendreon Corp (DNDN) snapped back 70 cents to 6.61, or 12%, on 7.2 million shares. Groupon, Inc. (GRPN) jumped 84 cents to 9.79, or 9%, on 10.7 million shares. Jive Software, Inc. (JIVE) was up 1.38 to 16.12, or 9%, on 1.4 million shares. Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) spiked 67 cents to 9.41, or 7 1/2%, on 2.3 million shares.
Other gainers of note included Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE), up 91 cents to 13.46. IPG Photonics Corporation (IPGP) jumped 2.84 to 42.43. Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SPPI) snapped back 79 cents to 11.92. USG Corporation (USG) was up 92 cents to 14.47. Lennar Corp. (LEN) was up 1.59 to 25.27, on 11.8 million shares in a strong home-builders group.
In addition, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) was up 1.32 to 21.39. Diamond Foods, Inc. (DMND) gained 1.25 to 20.45. Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX), one of our favorites ran 2.46 to 44.16. And Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) was up 75 cents to 12.50. These rounded out the gainers on our board today.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early, down mid-day, and then back up again in the afternoon to close with gains on the session.
Not sure if it was more than technicals so far. We'll have to see what develops later in the week.
Good Trading!
Harry