The stock market indices had a volatile session, to say the least. They did end up in the plus column for the blue chips after an afternoon rally, but not quite so on the Nasdaq 100.
The day started out with a hard move down. They rallied back and had a sharp rally for the NDX, with Apple Inc. (AAPL) rallying from 2740 up to 2758. The S&P 500 rallied during the course of that rally, going from 1505 to 1512. They then they rolled over very sharply, and made nominal new lows on the NDX but not on the S&P 500. When they failed to get confirmation, they moved back in an orderly fashion in a very steady, rising-narrow channel on the S&P 500, but the spike into the close got it back up to 1512.
Net on the day, the Dow was up 7.22 at 13,986.52, and got as low as 13, 913 earlier in the day, 73 points off the low. The S&P 500 was up 83 cents at 1512.12, 7 1/2 points off the low, with a spike into the close, after being down to as low as 1504.71. The Dow and S&P 500 both managed to get back into the positive column. The Nasdaq 100, however, was down 8.64 at 2746.35, 12 points off its high, and did not get into the plus column today.
Advance-declines, which were sloppy all day, ended the day almost 3 to 2 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and higher by 250 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 to 2 positive on New York, with total volume of 650 million shares.
Nasdaq traded nearly 1.95 billion shares and had a 5 to 4 positive volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was led by Netflix Inc. (NFLX), up another 10.02 to 184.41, Priceline Inc. (PCLN) was up 2.53 to 694.10, Google Inc. (GOOG) 4.43 to 770.17, SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) was up 2.64 to 50.98, and First Solar, Inc. (FSLR), which we traded today, up 2.11 to 31.13.
There were many percent gainers on our board today. Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACUR) spiked 48 cents to 2.35, or 26%, on nearly a million shares. Low priced BIOLASE, Inc. (BIOL) was up 55 cents to 3.38, or 12%, on 3 million shares and traded substantially higher earlier in the day to say the least.
Zoltek Companies Inc. (ZOLT) gained 91 cents to 7.94, or 13%, on 1.5 million shares, and Sunshine Heart Inc. (SSH) ran 96 cents to 7.77, or 14%.
Shutterfly, Inc. (SFLY), on major earnings, gapped up in the morning and stayed up all day, closing up 6.81 to 40.40, or 20 1/4%, on 8.1 million shares, a 1000% increase in volume than normal. Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (GDP) advanced 1.94 to 12.56, or 18%, on 4.4 million shares. MBIA Inc. (MBI) soared 1.58 to 10.41, or 18%, on 10.9 million shares.
Other gainers of note included Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) was up 1.78 to 14.44, Vipshop Holdings Limited (VIPS) up 2.26 to 20.57, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) 2.84 to 33.39, Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (RS), on an acquisition today, 5.56 to 70.25, TrueBlue, Inc. (TBI) 1.45 to 18.30, 3D Systems Corp. (DDD), after announcing new split, up 4.82 to 67.40.
Conceptus, Inc. (CPTS) popped 1.49 to 22.80, Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (WYN) advanced 3.81 to 60.01, Yelp, Inc. (YELP) closed up 1.20 to 22.38, gained Youku Tudou Inc. (YOKU) 1.14 to 22.40, Moody's Corp. (MCO) jumped around, up and down, but finally ended up on the day, 2.40 to 47.49.
On the downside, Amazon Inc. (AMZN) dropped 4.67 to 262.22 and Affymax, Inc. (AFFY) lost 1.03 to 17.17.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were sharply, bounced, lower lows on the Nasdaq 100, but not on the S&P 500. That caused a late morning rally, but they rolled over hard into the afternoon with nominal new lows on the NDX, but not being confirmed on the S&P 500. Once again, they rallied back into the close, much more so on the S&P 500 than the Nasdaq 100.
They still remain above the moving averages on the hourly charts and managed to close in the plus column on the blue chips.
That's the best we can say for it today. So, we'll see how it goes on tomorrow.
Good Trading!
In using any portion of The Technical Trader, you agree to the Terms and Conditions governing the use of the service as described in this disclaimer. Our disclaimers, policies and terms are subject to change without notice. The Technical Trader (www.thetechtrader.com) is published by Century-Pacific Investments and AdviceTrade, Inc., both of which are publishers. The Web site is maintained by Codexia, LLC. None of these firms, nor Mr. Boxer, is registered as a broker-dealer or investment adviser either with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or with any state securities authority. Each trade mentioned in the diary and other sections of The Technical Trader is hypothetical and is not an actual trade. Mr. Boxer and employees of Century-Pacific, AdviceTrade and Codexia are not allowed to have personal positions in stocks mentioned in the diary and other sections of The Technical Trader. This policy, first announced to subscribers on June 2, 2004, gave Mr. Boxer a deadline that was extended to July 30, 2004 for liquidating any existing personal holdings in stocks mentioned on the site. Our holdings page, in which Mr. Boxer listed his personal positions in stocks mentioned on the site, was removed at that time. The publishers are not permitted to have any financial relationship with companies mentioned on the site. Mr. Boxer may recommend trades of stocks mentioned in the Diary as a consultant to hedge funds, but has agreed not to make such recommendations until after the stock has been posted on The Technical Trader Web site. Mr. Boxer's commentaries, trading ideas and model trades represent his own opinions and should not be relied upon for purposes of effecting securities transactions or other investing strategies, nor should they be construed as an offer or solicitation of an offer to sell or buy any security. You should not interpret Mr. Boxer's opinions as constituting investment advice. Neither we nor Mr. Boxer claim to have any non-public information regarding the companies mentioned in this site. The trade prices that appear on this Web site are based on the average of the real-time bid and real-time ask prices provided by Money.net, except when entered manually by Mr. Boxer should Money.net's feed be temporarily down. There may be a delay between the price as it appears in the diary and the current price that you see from your terminal due to delays in Internet connectivity, quote delays, refresh intervals in the case of the Web-based diary page, data entry errors, and market conditions, and also due to times when Mr. Boxer is not available to make the trade at the moment a previously stated target has been met. Entries may at times be in error due to system or data-entry errors. Hypothetical performance results do not include trading commissions and other execution costs that would be incurred if the trades referenced in the diary or elsewhere on the site were actual trades. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Recommended Content
Editors’ Picks
EUR/USD drops below 1.0800 after German Retail Sales data
EUR/USD has come under fresh selling pressure and trades below 1.0800 after the data from Germany showed that Retail Sales declined by 1.9% MoM in February. Resurgent US Dollar demand is adding to the downside in the pair. US data are next in focus.
GBP/USD stays weak near 1.2600 amid market caution
GBP/USD remains defensive near 1.2600 in European trading on Thursday. The hawkish tone from Fed Governor Christopher Waller keeps the US Dollar afloat amid a cautious trading environment ahead of key US data releases and the Good Friday trading lull.
Gold price bulls keenly await US PCE Price Index on Friday before placing fresh bets
Gold price (XAU/USD) continues with its struggle to make it through the $2,200 mark on Thursday and oscillates in a narrow trading band through the early part of the European session.
XRP price falls to $0.60 support as Ripple ruling doesn’t help Coinbase lawsuit against SEC
XRP programmatic sales ruling by Judge Torres was completely rejected by another US Court that ruled in favor of the SEC in a lawsuit against Coinbase.
The other terminal rate: How far will policy rates be cut?
Recent communication by the Federal Reserve and the ECB has made it clear that the first cut in official interest rates is coming. Both central banks are saying the same but the ECB communication is more opaque than that of the Fed.