We had another unusual and troubling session despite the steady advance the indices had after the opening weakness, as some of the underlying technicals did not confirm today.
The day started out with a gap down. A sharp early sell-off held right at secondary support, and they bounced sharply with the NDX making new session highs within the first hour or so. But the S&P 500 did not, and when that occurred they went into a consolidation mode for a couple hours, but when they failed to break a rally ensued, taking out the highs and they rallied steadily all afternoon. Only a last 15 minute pullback brought them off the highs for the day, but not far off of them.
The Dow was up 25 ½, the S&P 500 2 ¾, and the Nasdaq 100 20 1/2, chiefly because the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) had an exceptional day, up 8.39, or nearly 2 percent today.
However, despite that there were 110 more decliners than advancers on New York, and Nasdaq had a nearly equal amount of advancers and decliners. So, a very narrow advance today.
Up/down volume, however, was positive by 4 to 3 on New York, on total volume of less than 1 ½ billion. Nasdaq did trade 2.2 billion and had a 3 to 1 positive ratio on up/down volume, but as indicated earlier advance-declines were nearly dead-even flat. Certainly not an impressive advance, breadth-wise.
TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed, mostly narrowly so. Point-plus gainers and losers included low-priced OPCI on a contract from Wal-Mart, up 3.28, or 182 percent today. Cleveland Biolabs announced a new stemcell process, and exploded for 48 ½ percent today, up 2.42.
Other stocks of note, Chinese stocks in general rebounded and were firm for most of the session. Portfolio position Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) was up 73 cents, and American Oriental Bioengineering (AOB) up 52 cents, hitting a new all-time high today just under 14. Chindex (CHDX) was up 75 cents, Chinadotcom up 37 cents, China Techfaith (CNTF) up 70 cents, and Gmarket (GMKT) up 75 cents. TSTC also advanced 44 cents.
In addition, portfolio holding VASCO Data Security (VDSI) tagged 15 today, a new multi-year high, up 77 cents at the close. Nuance Communications (NUAN) reached a new 8-month high, up 39 cents, and portfolio position Inspire Pharmaceuticals (ISPH) advanced 32 cents to a new 52-week high.
On the downside, Fuwei Films (FFHL) in the Chinese sector lost 1.20, and Sigma Designs (SIGM) gave back 89 cents. Fuel Tech (FTEK) lost 61 cents and China Precision Steel (CPSL) was down 69 cents.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the NDX had an exceptional session price wise after early losses. It came on strong and climbed all day, closing at over 1816. That leaves it just 6 points from its Nov-Dec double-top, which may be tested early tomorrow morning.
The SPX, however, is far from its recent highs, closing at 1414.7, leaving that about 18 points from its Dec highs.
But an up-day is an up-day, and let’s see if they can continue the advance tomorrow and broaden out breadth-wise.
Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a free 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a free 30-day trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.
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