Nasdaq Drags the Market Down

The stock market indices started off with a smack to the downside. Futures were lower, although they had recovered premarket, as some economic news came out that wasn't bad. The indices, however, came down sharply as some of the large-cap stocks on the Nasdaq 100 got hurt. Netflix (NFLX) was down nearly 19, Priceline (PCLN) more than 10, Amazon (AMZN) 7, and Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) shaved by a whopping 25 points, or 9 percent. They then stair-stepped their way lower on the Nasdaq 100, but did not make lower lows on the S&P 500. Again in the afternoon when they made even lower lows the market refused to give way on the S&P 500. That led to a late pop in the afternoon, but then faded into the close.

Net on the day, the Dow up 43.63 at 17,031.14. The S&P 500 was down 1.41 at 1984.13, 6 points off its low. The Nasdaq 100 was down 39.35 at 4029.89, 11 points off the low.

Advance-declines were 2 to 1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 to 2 negative on New York, with total volume of 2.7 billion shares. Nasdaq traded 1.9 billion shares, and had a 5 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was sharply lower. In addition to the issues already mentioned, Google Inc. (GOOG) lost 2.51 to 573.11, Apple Inc. (AAPL) just 3 cents to 101.63, Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) 2.91 to 121.04, and Vipshop Holdings Limited (VIPS) 10.67 to 196.57.

SolarCity Corporation (SCTY) was down 6.65 to 67.36, MOBILEYE N.V. (MBLY) down 3.27 to 47.60, GoPro, Inc. (GPRO) 1.98 to 67.20, First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) 2.68 to 69.92, FireEye, Inc. (FEYE) 2.06 to 33.01, Facebook, Inc. (FB) 2.90 to 74.58, Twitter, Inc. 2.73 to 49.38, Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) 2.00 to 37.74, BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (BDSI) 1.32 to 16.83, and Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ACHN) 1.12 to 11.06.

Biotech stocks, in particular, had a tough day today.

Checking the TheTechTrader.com percent-gain leaderboard, some of the stocks we follow did very well. Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AVNR), on a new drug approval, had a really good day, exploding 5.75 to 12.49, or 85.3%, on 88.5 million shares, and reaching over 13 at one point. ReWalk Robotics Ltd. (RWLK) jumped 11.55 to 37.15, or 45%, on 11.2 million shares. PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT) ran 3.76 to 36.48, or 11 1/2%.

Among other gainers, 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET) was up 1.59 to 21.46, Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP) up 4.20 to 76.00, PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT) 3.76 to 36.48, or 11 1/2%, and Receptos, Inc. (RCPT) 2.88 to 62.55.

The ultra-shorts were strong today. The ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Fut ETF (UVXY) jumped 1.24 to 26.66, athe Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) 48 cents to 15.13, and the ProShares UltraPro Short Russell2000 (SRTY) 1.23 to 38.71.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down at the get-go, they bounced midday, more so on the S&P 500 than the NDX. In the afternoon they did have a bigger bounce that took out declining topslines, but only got to the mid-channel line on the Nasdaq 100 and gave it back. The Nasdaq is definitely dragging the market down, but today was a key day on assets. They broke key support around the 40-50 zone on the Nasdaq 100 and three week lows on the S&P 500.

It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.

Good Trading!