Nasdaq Closed Flat Despite Down Day

The stock market indices started off the week on a very weak note, and although an afternoon comeback from midday hold of secondary support created a market rally that saw a late afternoon pullback consolidation, and then a strong surge in the last half hour to take back a big chunk of losses back. However, they were unable to get to through to the positive side, although the Nasdaq 100 closed nearly flat on the day after being down as much as 15 points.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 77.79 at 18,493.06, about 40 points off the low. The S&P 500 was down 6.55 at 2168.48, 7 points off the low. The Nasdaq 100 was down .14 at 4665.93, 5 points off its low.

Advance-declines were a little more than 3 to 2 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 5 to 3 negative on the Nasdaq. Up/down volume was almost 2 to 1 negative on New York, total volume of 3 billion shares traded. The Nasdaq traded 1 3/4 billion shares and had a 9 1/2 to 8 positive volume ratio. It was very interesting how the Nasdaq 100 had a positive volume ratio, and the reason why the indices came back nearly flat.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but most of the Nasdaq Generals were down. Priceline Inc. (PCLN) was down 5.73 to 1321.67, Google Inc. (GOOG) down 2.97 to 739.77, Apple Inc. (AAPL) down 1.32 to 97.34, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 5.25 to 739.61, but Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) gained 1.77 to 87.66.

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) gave back 63 cents to 160.25, First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) fell 3 cents to 47.99, but Facebook, Inc. (FB) advanced 63 cents to 121.63.

Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) jumped 7.74 to 230.01, on news that they are going to merge with SolarCity Corporation (SCTY), which gained 1.05 to 27.50.

On the upside, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) was up 1.01 to 55.68, Acacia Communications, Inc. (ACIA) up 4.22 to 63.38, and Ambarella, Inc. (AMBA), one of our swing trades, up 1.34 to 57.39.

Additional stocks to the downside included Targa Resources Corp. (TRGP), down 1.48 to 38.85, and BroadSoft, Inc. (BSFT) dropped 1.00 to 46.30.

Checking TheTechTrader.com percent-gain leaderboard, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) popped 86 cents to 6.70, or 15%, on 117.5 million shares. Vuzix Corporation (VUZI) bounced 88 cents to 8.94, or 11%, on 2.7 million shares, reaching as high as 9.30 at one point.

China Ceramics Co., Ltd (CCCL) ran up to 6.07 before pulling back to 5.30, up 2.28, or 75 1/2%, on 17.6 million shares, 50,000% more volume than average. Sophiris Bio, Inc. (SPHS) gained 1.57 to 5.95, or 36%, on 9 million shares. Sprint Corporation (S) sprinted 1.28 to 5.90, or 28%, on 125.5 million shares.

SkyPeople Fruit Juice, Inc. (SPU), a China company, ran 3.97 to 18.22, or 28%, on 3.5 million shares, reaching a high of 20.95 earlier in the day. NeoPhotonics Corporation (NPTN) popped 1.98 to 13.11, or 18%m, on 2.1 million shares.

Gold was down, but the Direxion Daily Jr Gld Mnrs Bear 3X ETF (JDST) was up 82 cents to 6.95, or 13%, on 4.5 million shares. The Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X ETF (DUST) gained 71 cents to 7.4, or 11%, on 35 million shares.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down in the morning, and by midday they stabilized, ran up to retest the highs, but couldn’t get through and backed off, but in a normal type, falling-wedge-type pattern. They came on late to break through resistance, and closed at the rally highs going away.

It was a nice finish for the indices, especially the Nasdaq 100.

Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Good Trading!