(By Harry Boxer) The stock market indices had a very interesting, volatile day, and with the FOMC extended, it was quite interesting.
The day started out with a move up, and sharply so, testing the highs on the Nasdaq 100 near the 2662 zone, and then pulled back sharply to test 2-day support, before bouncing around until midday. In the afternoon, the market rolled over when the FOMC spoke. They then rallied back in a 3-wave rally to resistance, only to rollover hard into the close, and close lower on the session.
Net on the day, the Dow closed under 13,000 at 12,976.13, down 32.55, right at 100 points off its high. The S&P 500 was down 4.00 at 1375.31, 10 points off its high, and the Nasdaq 100 down 7.40 at 2635.13, 26 points off the high.
Advance-declines were 3 to 2 negative on New York Stock Exchange, and 3 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 to 1 negative on New York, with total volume of 1 billion shares. Nasdaq traded just under 1.7 billion, and had a 2 to 1 negative volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was mostly lower, except for a few outstanding issues. SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) was up 2.30 to 41.31, about a point off the high, but closed up very nicely on a down day.
The ultra-short ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) closed up 2.71 to 66.97. There were many percentage gainers today. Low-priced Cadiz Inc. (CDZI) jumped 2.84 to 9.94, or 40%, on 1.2 million shares, a 3000% increase in volume. Silicon Image, Inc. (SIMG) gained 88 cents to 4.80, or 22 1/2%, on 7.7 million shares. Wizzard Software Corporation (WZE) advanced 80 cents to 4.30, or 22%, on 481 thousand shares. Resolute Forest Products Inc. (RFP) was up 1.51 to 10.69, or 16%, on 2.5 million shares. InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC), on a Nokia ruling, spiked up to 34.10, but closed at 31.18, up 3.88, or 14%, on 5 million shares. RTI International Metals, Inc. (RTI) bounced around quite a bit today, but still closed up 2.89 to 25.34, or 13%, on 1.1 million shares. Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM) climbed its way up 91 cents to 13.28, or 7%, on 11.8 million shares.
Other gainers of note included CBRE Group, Inc (CBG) was up 1.10 to 16.68, Kronos Worldwide Inc. (KRO) 1.08 to 18.00, The Allstate Corporation (ALL) gained 2.10 to 36.40, NCR Corp. (NCR) rose 1.43 to 24.75, Conceptus, Inc. (CPTS) jumped 1.22 to 19.80, Hospira Inc. (HSP) was up 1.67 to 36.42, United States Steel Corp. (X) gained 98 cents to 21.63, and IPG Photonics Corporation (IPGP) added 2.31 to 54.14. These were among the point-plus gainers today.
On the downside, Apple Inc. (AAPL) reversed 10 points off its high and closed down 3.95 to 606.81. Sourcefire, Inc. (FIRE) gave crushed on earnings, down 8.63 to 42.42. Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) lost 2.35 to 54.50. Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX) gave back 1.84 to 73.13. VIVUS Inc. (VVUS) gave back 1.07 to 19.96.
The ultra-long ETF Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) was down 2.57 to 48.44, and the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) dropped 1.34 to 88.08.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early to test resistance, and then rolled over hard when they didn't break through to test support. By midday, they were rolling over to crack key support only to snap back in the afternoon and rollover again in the last 15 minutes. Net-net it was a negative day, but the hourly-chart moving average is still holding around 2620 NDX and about 1372 S&P 500.
We'll be watching those levels tomorrow morning.
Good Trading!
Harry