The stock market indices had a nasty session starting out with world markets lower before the opening. The indices followed through with a downside thrust and gap. After a brief bounce, they moved even more sharply lower. Nasdaq 100 got down to 2751 1/2 and the S&P 500 got down to 1397. They bounced back midmorning, and then backed and filled, which looked like coil or wedges. When they did not break down after a midday retest, they held the earlier lows on the NDX and made higher lows on the S&P 500, but then moved up in late afternoon trade. In the last half hour, they rolled over hard, and took back a chunk of the rally to close down sharply on the day.
Net on the day, the Dow closed right at 13,000.71, down 106.77, the S&P 500 was down 11.01 at 1399.48, and the Nasdaq 100 down 30.26 at 2753.74.
Advance-declines were nearly 3 to 1 negative on New York Stock Exchange, and 3 to 1 negative on Nasdaq as well. Up/down volume was 4 1/2 to 1 negative on New York, with total volume of a very light 500 million shares. Nasdaq traded 1 2/3 billion shares, and had a 6 to 1 negative volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was mostly lower. Leading the way on the downside, Apple Inc. (AAPL) lost 9.60 to 663.87, and closed just a point off its low. Google Inc. (GOOG) dropped 6.33 to 681.68, not far off its low. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) gave back 90 cents to 246.22, and closed about 4 points off its high.
Other stocks on the downside included Sourcefire, Inc. (FIRE), down 2.07 to 51.33, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) lost 1.71 to 193.37, and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) dropped 2.96 to 60.48.
Ultra-long Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) lost 1.72 to 55.52 and Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) dropped 1.37 to 95.20.
On the upside, there were some outstanding stocks, two of which are recent swing trade picks of ours, and both are biotech stocks. Repros Therapeutics Inc. (RPRX) jumped 1.21 to 12.60, and Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (SRPT) popped 1.80 to 14.40.
In addition, stem cell stocks were strong today. StemCells Inc. (STEM) was up 35 cents to 1.96, or 22%, on 7.5 million shares, and Geron Corporation (GERN) spiked up to 2.77 today, but closed at 2.63, up 22 cents, or 9%, on 3.4 million shares.
Low-priced Zale Corporation (ZLC) was up 70 cents to 5.03, or 16%, on 2.2 million shares. Pandora Media, Inc. (P) gained 1.44 to 11.52, or 14%,on 40.5 million shares. Accretive Health, Inc. (AH) jumped 1.12 to 11.92, or 10%, on 2.1 million shares.
Other gainers of note included Greif Inc. (GEF) up 3.52 to 44.22, Visteon Corp. (VC) up 3.71 to 46.16, Buckle Inc. (BKE) 3.08 to 46.28, and Dollar General Corporation (DG) 1.53 to 50.07.
Stepping back and reviewing the intraday chart patterns, the indices came down very sharply, and after gapping lower, they extended their losses in midmorning trade, but stabilized midday. They actually rallied to breakout in the last hour before a sharp rollover. That closed them near the afternoon lows and completed a very nasty day on Wall Street.
We'll see how it goes tomorrow, but right now, being at near-critical support levels on the indices, we're in danger of a breakdown tomorrow.
Good Trading!
Harry