Biotech’s had Especially Good Day on Mixed Session

Harry Boxer The Technical Trader

The stock market indices started off the day with a little bit of a dip, with lower futures, and then exploded, testing the Nasdaq 100 all-time highs, but could not get through the 5427 area. The S&P 500 rallied sharply as well, but only did 50% of its drop from Friday afternoon, and then both indices rolled over sharply, reaching the Thursday’s lows on the Nasdaq 100 and the gap low on the S&P 500. Late in the day, they rallied, but in the last few minutes backed off again to close mixed on the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 8.76 at 20,905.86. The S&P 500 was down 4.78 at 2373.47. The Nasdaq 100 managed to gain 4.54 at 5413.31.

Advance-declines were 17 to 12 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 17 to 11 negative on the Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 18 to 11 negative on New York, total volume of just under 3 billion shares traded. The Nasdaq traded 1.7 billion shares and had a 9 to 8 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly green. There were some big movers today, however, Priceline.com (PCLN) was down 7.19 to 1765.44, and Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) down 3.72 to 848.40, but Apple Inc. (AAPL) reached a new all-time high today, up 1.47 to 141.46, Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) also reached a new all-time high, up 4.66 to 866.97, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) up 72 cents to 145.83.

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) dropped 49 cents to 176.13, Facebook, Inc. (FB) eked out a dime to 139.94, and First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) went lower by 1.49 to 30.34.

Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) gained 42 cents to 261.92.

The biotech’s had an especially good day today. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (ESPR) exploded on positive drug news, up 17.55 to 41.22, just a point off the session highs. Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) gained 6.61 to 22.11, just pennies off the high. It was a monster day for both of those biotech’s that were swinging. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) ran 3.38 to 109.45, and Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SUPN) closed up 1.00 to 29.90.

Other stocks to the upside included Shopify Inc. (SHOP), up 1.87 to 68.86.

On the downside, Clovis Oncology Inc (CLVS) lost 1.27 to 70.05.

Checking TheTechTrader.com percent-gain leaderboard, ViewRay, Inc. (VRAY) bounced 78 cents, or 13%, to 6.80, on 1.6 million shares traded.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AUPH) advanced 1.08, or 14%, to 8.78, on almost 28 million shares traded.

CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. (CTMX) jumped 3.71, or 24%, to 18.89, on 2.3 million shares traded. Omeros Corporation (OMER) snapped back 1.21, or 11%, to 11.75, on 1.2 million shares traded.

Among other gainers, Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc. (HAWK) was up 2.95 to 39.05.

The VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN (UGAZ) closed up 2.20 to 19.66.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, after an early dip and a very strong rally, the indices rolled over, took out the lows, and then took out support, only to snap back about 50% of the losses, still, ending mixed on the session.

Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Good Trading!

Author

Harry Boxer

The Technical Trader

Regular columnist on ADVFN, Stockhouse, and DecisionPoint, among many sites, and regular guest on WinningOnWallStreet, Marketviews.tv, KFWB-Radio Los Angeles, and more. Frequent guest columnist on CBSMarketWatch.

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