(By Harry Boxer) The stock market definitely had a fantastic finish to the week as the indices started off with a bang, ran up to resistance, consolidated, broke through, consolidated again in the afternoon, and then spiked up into the session highs with about an hour to go. They then backed and filled, the S&P 500 coming on late in the session not far from the highs for the day, but the Nasdaq 100 did not participate in that last little late bounce in the last 5 -10 minutes. Nevertheless, it was a very strong session.
Net of the day, the Dow closed up 203.82 at 12,777.09, the S&P 500 was up 22.02 at 1356.78, and the Nasdaq 100 up 39.67 at 2584.97.
Advance-declines were 5 to 1 positive on New York, and 3 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was almost 7 1/2 to 1 positive on New York, with total volume of 630 million shares. Nasdaq traded 1.3 billion shares, and had a 3 to 1 positive volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher. Leading the way with the large-cap stocks was Apple Inc. (AAPL), up 6.07 to 604.97. Google Inc. (GOOG) snapped back 6.04 to 576.52, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) gained 3.03 to 218.39, Goldman Sachs (GS) was up 3.41 to 97.43, and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) gained 2.92 to 186.01.
VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC) had a big day, up 2.70 to 40.47, getting as high as 41.75. Low-price IsoRay, Inc. (ISR) advanced 36 cents to 1.47, or 32%, on 3.2 million shares. Obagi Medical Products, Inc. (OMPI) gained 79 cents to 17.15, Synacor, Inc. (SYNC) was up 88 cents to 16.14, and low-priced Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (SIMO) rose 48 cents to 12.42.
Junior biotech stocks had a great day today. Affymax, Inc. (AFFY) jumped another 2.25 today to 16.47, or 16%, on 6 million shares. Rosetta Genomics, Ltd. (ROSG) was up 92 cents to 10.48 or 10%, on 1 million shares. Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (OREX) gained 45 cents to 7.06, or 7%, on 13 million shares. Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (TSPT) advanced 34 cents to 6.66, and GenMark Diagnostics, Inc. (GNMK) gained 37 cents to 5.92. Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARNA) was up 57 cents to 11.18.
In addition, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) was up 2.03 to 36.07, Petr (PBR) up 1.09 to 1982, AeroVironment, Inc. (AVAV) up 1.37 to 25.10, Colfax Corporation (CFX) 1.43 to 26.94, Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc. (CSOD) 1.10 to 23.45, Cytec Industries Inc. (CYT) 2.32 to 61.14, Rosetta Resources, Inc. (ROSE) 1.74 to 38.41, Guidewire Software, Inc. (GWRE) 1.03 to 24.69, and Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) 1.55 to 34.25.
In a strong gun sector, Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (SWHC) was up 45 cents to 9.63, and Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. (RGR) jumped 2.16 to 43.28.
The ultra-long ETFs did great today. Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was up 5.83 to 90.27, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) took back 1.92 to 54.08.
On the downside, there were no stocks to speak of down more than a point on our board today, other than Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC), which continues its profit-taking, down 1.46 to 53.05.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices started with a big bang, ran up resistance, consolidated, ran up again in the afternoon, consolidated again, and then ran near the close to a beautiful 5-wave move before consolidating at the finish.
It was a great day, and a fine way to end the week for the bulls.
Good Trading!
Harry