Asian stock markets were down hard, the quake happened near the close of NIKKEI so there should be more damage on Monday. The Saudi 'day of rage' didn't materialize, due to the bribe. The Commerce Department reported that Retail Sales rose in the month of February by +1.0%. This was below the consensus for +1.1%. When you strip out the sales of autos, sales were up +0.7%, which was also a tenth below the consensus for an increase of +0.8%.
Friday’s session began with a several point gap lower but was essentially at the low for the session just two minutes after the opening bell. The first forty-five minutes were choppy, trading within a five point range, but by 10:15 am the lows were on the chart and the SPX spent most of the rest of the day ascending. There was a significant pullback just after 1:00 pm but there wasn’t much else until just before the close. The last half hour was dominated by sellers again but the index only surrendered four points to close with the majority of its gains on the day.
Weekly chart, The S&P is in a box that is pretty wide, we survived a trip to the 150dma thanks to comments about QE3, the floor here is 1295 and the ceiling is 1333. The market volatility is certainly up and its starting to feel heavy and the floor can not withstand anymore bad news. Thats what happens when you have a poor foundation, things give way a lot quicker. Keep your stops tight, protect profits.
For the SPX Index there were 373 components advancing and 107 components declining. On the NYSE 3,120 issues were traded with 1,958 advancing issues and 1,055 retreating issues, a ratio of 1.86 to one advancing. There were 37 new highs and 21 new lows. The five day moving average of New Highs is 144 while the five day moving average of New Lows is 19 and the ten day moving average of Net Advancing is -2.
Advancing volume was higher at a ratio of 3.93 to one. The closing TRIN was 0.45 and the final tick was 674. The five day average of TRIN is 1.08 and the ten day average of TRIN is 1.25. The NYSE Composite Index gained 0.59% today while the SPX gained 0.7%.
For the NYSE, relative to the previous 30 session average, volume was -11.65% below the average. Of the last 15 sessions 8 sessions ended with volume greater than the previous rolling 30 day average volume. Of the last 30 sessions, 23 sessions ended on a positive tick, 8 of last 10. For the SPX, the day's volume was 88.8% of the average daily volume for the last year. Volume was 90.9% of the last 10 day average and 79.6% of the previous day’s volume.
Breadth was only moderately strong; New Highs were noticeably lacking. Volume was light on the bounce back session but considering the news, this may have been as bullish as could be expected.
Total tick for the day was 128,000 and the average tick for the day was 83. There were 123 ticks greater than 600 and 14 ticks more extreme than -600. There were 7 ticks greater than 1000 and no ticks more extreme than -1000. The tick action suggests institutional accumulation.
McClellan’s Oscillator remains oversold.
Sector Performance:
- Basic Materials -- Outperformed the SPX by +76%.
- Energy -- Outperformed the SPX by +116%.
- Industrials -- Outperformed the SPX by +47%.
Sectors weaker than the SPX for Friday:
- Financials -- Underperformed the SPX by -3%.
- Technology -- Underperformed the SPX by -24%.
- Consumer Staples -- Underperformed the SPX by -54%.
- Utilities -- Underperformed the SPX by -48%.
- Health Care -- Underperformed the SPX by -47%.
- Consumer Discretionary -- Underperformed the SPX by -9%.
A short list of stocks showing excellent relative strength, they are on my watchlist for new buys: AMGN, BIG, CPB, CBG, CL, CMA, CAG, CEG, DUK, EFX, EXC, EXPE, FDO, GT, HRL, K, LUK, LOW, LSI, MI, MKC, NWL, NSC, OI, PLL, JCP, PEP, RL, PCP, SWY, SHW, SJM, LUV, S, SUN, UPS, VXX, SH
No comments:
Post a Comment