The stock market indices had an up day today. They were a little choppy, but opened strongly, pulled back, and then had a very strong move, reaching 2576 on the Nasdaq 100 and 1332 on the S&P 500. They then consolidated, rolled over in the afternoon, retested the lows on the NDX, but the S&P 500 was far from the lows and twice made nominal new highs in the afternoon, while the NDX did not. That resulted in a late rollover on the pullback, but it was still a good day for the indices.
Net of the day, the Dow was up 92.34 at 12,627.01, about 19 points off its high, the S&P 500 was up 11.86 at 1331.85, only 3 points off its high, and the Nasdaq 100 up 15.69 at 2565.53, 11 points off the high.
Advance-declines were nearly 4 to 1 positive on New York, and 2 1/2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 4 to 1 positive on New York, with total volume of 662 million shares. Nasdaq traded 1.6 billion, and had a 3 1/2 to 1 positive volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mostly higher. There were a lot of point-plus gainers today as well. Google Inc. (GOOG) was up 4.62 to 569.30, Apple Inc. (AAPL) up 2.47 to 574.59, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) 1.05 to 193.00 even, and Goldman Sachs (GS) 2.24 to 93.27.
Other gainers of note included NuVasive, Inc. (NUVA), a swing trade of ours, ran up 1.04 to 24.05. Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) continues to amaze, up another 2.23 to 54.21. SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) jumped 2.10 to 39.75. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) jumped 1.49 to 61.11.
Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARNA), was up 2.54 to 11.39, or 28.7%, on 89 million shares, on positive drug news. VIVUS Inc. (VVUS) gained 1.94 to 28.33 on the drug approval for Arena.
In addition, Entropic Communications, Inc. (ENTR) was up 1.16 to 5.24, or 28%, on 5.3 million shares. low-priced Nanosphere, Inc. (NSPH) gained 41 cents to 2.32, or 21%, on 3.8 million shares. Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (OREX) advanced 83 cents to 4.92, or 20%, on 24.2 million shares. Mitek Systems Inc. (MITK) snapped back 42 cents to 3.96, or 12%, on 1.3 million shares.
Junior oil stocks did well today. Gulfport Energy Corp. (GPOR) was up 1.79 to 18.34, and Bill Barrett Corp. (BBG) was up 1.82 to 19.67. Endeavour International Corporation (END) was up 66 cents to 8.20.
Linn Energy (LINE) gained 1.08 to 37.07, Lindsay Corporation (LNN) exploded 5.62 to 61.89, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) popped 3.05 to 35.02, Unisys Corporation (UIS) gained 1.43 to 17.19, and Westport Innovations Inc. (WPRT) advanced 2.99 to 35.49. Amarin Corporation (AMRN) jumped 1.13 to 14.29. Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) was up 1.60 to 40.78. Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. (NSM) ran 1.33 to 20.46.
On the downside, nothing was as much as a point down on our board today. It was a good day for TheTechTrader.com board today.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up, they pulled back, held support, and exploded on the Nasdaq 100 early on to the session high, but the S&P 500 didn't listen and kept going, making two nominal new highs during the day without confirmation from the NDX.
Today the highs were right up near the declining moving averages on the hourly charts, and so far that remains resistance.
We'll see if we can get through today's high.
Good Trading!
Harry