(By Harry Boxer) The stock market indices had a positive session, although they started out with a gap up, ran up to resistance, came down hard, and held support. They then rallied in a 5-wave advance into key overhead resistance at the 2555-6 area on the Nasdaq 100, and the 1322-24 zone on the S&P 500. They tried to get through three times in the afternoon, but couldn't do so, rolled over in the last 10 minutes, and backed off the gains for the day. Still, they ended positive on the session.
Net on the day, the Dow was up 32.01 at 12,534.67, the S&P 500 up 6.28 at 1320 even, and the Nasdaq 100 up 16.30 at 2549.84.
Advance-declines were a little less than 2 to 1 positive on New York, and Nasdaq had about 1375 up and 1084 down, with a plurality of about 290 issues. Up/down volume was almost 2 to 1 positive on New York, total volume 678 million. Nasdaq traded 1.55 billion, and had a 3 to 2 positive volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mixed, but mostly higher. Leading the way were several low-priced stocks. Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SUPN) was up 6.52 to 12.23, or 114%, on 3.4 million shares on a drug approval, and at one point it traded over 15. GTX Inc. (GTXI) gained 58 cents to 3.63, or 19%, on 380,000 shares. LeeEnterprises Inc. (LEE) advanced 25 cents to 1.79, or 16%, on 1.3 million shares, and continues to be strong after Warren Buffet invested in this stock. Junior oil Endeavour International Corporation (END) moved up 65 cents to 7.54, or 9%, on 1.4 million shares.
Junior biotech stocks continue to be strong. pSivida Corp. (PSDV) gained 37 cents to 2.25, or 20%, on a light 135,000 shares traded. Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (LXRX) advanced 31 cents to 2.26, or nearly 16%, on 6.7 million shares on diabetes drug results. Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (OSIR) popped 1.09 to 13.83, or 8 1/2%, on 320,000 shares, and had a nice pop to nearly 9%.
LiveDeal, Inc. (LIVE) was up 1.34 to 9.34, or 17%, on 262,000 shares. Sonic Automotive Inc. (SAH) jumped 1.37 to 13.53, or 11%, on 3.1 million shares. Apollo Group Inc. (APOL), which we traded today, ran 3.34 to 35.81, or 10%, on 10 million shares on strong earnings. M/I Homes, Inc. (MHO) advanced 1.29 to 15.22, or 9 1/2%, on 343,000 shares in a very strong builders group.
Other gainers of note included Central Garden & Pet Co. (CENT), up 75 cents to 9.82. News Corp. (NWS), on possible news off a split off of the company, ran up 1.68 to 21.96. Titan Machinery, Inc. (TITN) jumped 1.97 to 28.91. Synacor, Inc. (SYNC) advanced 74 cents to 12.29, Jive Software. Inc. (JIVE) also advanced 1.18 to 20.93. NetEase, Inc (NTES) was up 3.20 to 39.70. Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) made its way up 2.94 to 55.28.
The ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas (BOIL) gained another 3.12 to 45.60.
Many of the large-cap stocks did well today. Apple Inc. (AAPL) snapped back 1.26 to 572.03, closing 5 points off its low. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) jumped 5.54 to 225.61, just a point off its high. Google Inc. (GOOG) took back 3.98 to 564.68.
In addition, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX) advanced 1.93 to 67.12, Sourcefire, Inc. (FIRE) gained 1.73 to 52.63, and Facebook, Inc. (FB) was up another 1.04 to 33.10. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) gained 1.19 to 59.62.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early to resistance, rolled over to test support, and then moved in a 5-wave advance from late morning to late afternoon before backing off to key resistance late in the day.
Nevertheless, there were gains on the day, and after yesterday's late hard hit, we'll take it. However, I will say, the down trend has now had 4 waves off the top, and we may very well see one more before they end this.
Let's see how it goes tomorrow.
Good Trading!
Harry