Sloppy Pullback Day, but Still a Positive Close

Harry Boxer The Technical Trader

The stock market indices had an up day, but they closed near the low end of the range, and the S&P 500 closed at the low for the day. It was such a strong gap up in the morning that it ended profitable on the session, but wasn’t a good close.

The day started out with a big gap up, they ran up to test the old, 52-week highs and all-time highs on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, but fell short of both, and sold off until midday when they bounced. They were unable to do anything, and sold off again, finishing near the lows for the day, but, still, it was an up day.

Net on the day, the Dow was up just 17.88 at 18,547.30, about 80 points off the high. The S&P 500 was up 17.88 at 2186.90, right at the low, but 26-7 points off the high. The Nasdaq 100 had a strong day, up 9.92 at 4818.48, 18 points off the high.

However, advance-declines were 3 to 1 in the morning, they closed at 2 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and the same on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 to 1 positive on New York, total volume of 3 billion shares traded. The Nasdaq traded 2.5 billion shares and had a little better than 2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed. Priceline.com (PCLN) was down 1.52 to 1422.47, Google Inc. (GOOG) down 7 cents to 772.08, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 34 cents to 108.86, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) up 2.97 to 762.45, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) up 68 cents to 95.94.

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) dropped 36 cents to 173.49, Facebook, Inc. (FB) gained 22 cents to 124.37, and First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) fell 23 cents to 37.45.

Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) jumped 1.91 to 224.84.

Mobileye N.V. (MBLY) was up 3.10 to 49.66, Ebix Inc. (EBIX) up 2.43 to 58.21, Ambarella Inc. (AMBA) up 2.02 to 67.86, Shutterstock Inc. (SSTK) 1.16 to 59.28,

On the downside, Twilio, Inc. (TWLO) gave back 2.57 to 56.08, and Acacia Communications, Inc. (ACIA) got hammered for 6.70 to 110.89.

Checking TheTechTrader.com percent-gain leaderboard, Hudson Technologies Inc. (HDSN), one of our swing trades, managed to eke out 68 cents to 6.18, or 12%, on 2.9 million shares traded.

Daktronics Inc. (DAKT) advanced 1.35 to 8.28, or 19 1/2%, on 2.8 million shares traded.

Clovis Oncology Inc. (CLVS), on a drug approval, exploded from 16.61, and closed up 4.93 to 23.03, or 27%, on 17 million shares traded. Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (PBYI) popped 1.97 to 56.62, or 3.6%. Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SNDX) closed up 2.19 to 17.13, or 15%. Momo Inc. (MOMO) bounced 2.49 to 19.80, or 14%, on 8.6 million shares traded. Tableau Software, Inc. (DATA) opened at 58.79, ran to 62.52, before closing up 7.35 to 62.22, or 13%, on 7.5 million shares traded. Raven Industries Inc. (RAVN) jumped 2.49 to 24.00, or 12%, on 1 million shares traded.

Nordson Industries (NDSN) had a fantastic day, up 9.71 to 101.96, or 11%, on 1.7 million shares traded.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up sharply, pulled back down, by midday managed to bounce, but couldn’t get through, and backed off into the close.

It was a sloppy pullback day, after an opening big gap, but it was still a positive day.

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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