(By Harry Boxer) The stock market indices had a difficult session, especially the blue chips. Apple Inc. (AAPL) was a standout today, up nearly 16 points, which certainly helped the Nasdaq 100 eke out a fractional gain. It was a sloppy day, with the indices up in the morning, down midmorning, back up at the end of the morning session, and then plunging in back into the session lows, making nominal new lows on the S&P 500, but not so on the NDX. Then they formed rising wedges in the afternoon, but rolled over in a 3-wave decline. The S&P 500 closed at the session lows and at support, and the NDX closed right at support. Nevertheless, it was sloppy day.
Net on the day, the Dow was down 64.33, but holding 13,000 at 13,008.68 . The S&P 500 was down 5.98 at 1379.32, just pennies off its low, but the Nasdaq 100 up .41 at 2642.53, 15 points off the high and just a couple points off the low.
Advance-declines were a little less than 3 to 2 negative on New York Stock Exchange, and about 7 to 5 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 to 1 negative on New York, with total volume of 872 million shares. Nasdaq traded 1.7 billion, and had a 3 to 2 negative volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was mixed and mostly lower. As mentioned, Apple Inc. (AAPL) had a very good day, up 15.73 to 610.76, but Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was down 2.79 to 233.30. Google Inc. (GOOG) was up just 67 cents to 632.97.
SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) jumped 1.57 to 39.01. Cirrus Logic Inc. (CRUS) was up 6.93 to 36.77 on earnings. Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (KLIC), another semiconductor, gained 1.24 to 11.07.
Low-priced Amyris, Inc. (AMRS) gained 33 cents to 3.87, and Mitek Systems Inc. (MITK) was up 29 cents to 3.95.
Other gainers of note included Avid Technology, Inc. (AVID) was up 1.64 to 9.21, or 22%, on 1 million shares. ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc. (ZLTQ) gained 70 cents to 5.14, or 18%. Dorman Products, Inc. (DORM) jumped 3.84 to 28.72, or 15%. Vishay Intertechnology Inc. (VSH) advanced 1.11 to 9.87, or 13%, on 6.4 million shares.
In addition, W&T Offshore Inc. (WTI) was up 2.03 to 18.49, Medidata Solutions, Inc. (MDSO) up 4.24 to 35.41, MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (MX) 1.18 to 10.18, United States Steel Corp. (X) 1.73 to 20.65, Corporate Executive Board Co. (EXBD) 4.04 to 46.13, Monolithic Power Systems Inc. (MPWR) 1.48 to 19.38, IPG Photonics Corporation (IPGP), on earnings, 3.48 to 51.83, CommVault Systems, Inc. (CVLT) 3.14 to 48.52, Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (HPY) 2.11 to 31.70, Herbalife Ltd. (HLF), on earnings, 3.20 to 54.89, Valero Energy Corporation 1.42 to 27.50, and BroadSoft, Inc. (BSFT) 1.08 to 24.55.
Medifast Inc. (MED) gained 1.37 to 28.10, and Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AUXL) advanced 1.17 to 26.94.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices basically spent time consolidating today, but closed mixed with the blue chips down, and Nasdaq 100 fractionally higher today.
It was a sloppy day, but if you take a look at the overall pattern, with the big surge that we had last week, so far they're consolidating nicely without too much deterioration.
Let's see what happens tomorrow.
Good Trading!
Harry