Strong, Slightly Negative Close

The stock market indices started out the week on a sloppy note and were down most of the day. The day started out with a little drop, and then a snap back, a small one on the S&P 500 vs a bigger one on the Nasdaq 100. They dropped to the session lows by mid morning, and then rallied back by midday and countered the declining topsline. They had a difficult time all afternoon trying to get through, and then in the last five minutes they exploded into the close, finishing near the highs for the day, although down on the session.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 26.51 at 17,977.24, 13 points off the high and 122.00 points off the low. It was a very nice comeback, but wasn’t able to get into the positive column. The S&P 500 was down 3.79 at 2087.79, 10 points off the low. The Nasdaq 100 was down .06 at 4474.13, 20 points off the low.

Advance-declines were 2 to 1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 17 to 10 negative on the Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 to 1 negative on New York, total volume of 3.2 billion shares traded. The Nasdaq traded 1.5 billion shares and had a 9 to 5 negative volume ratio.

The Tech Trader.com board was mostly red, but only fractionally. Priceline.com (PCLN) was down 3.23 to 1335.27, Apple Inc. (AAPL) down 60 cents to 105.08, and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) down 2.34 to 93.56, but Google Inc. (GOOG) jumped 4.38 to 723.15, and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) popped 5.70 to 626.20.

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) was down 2.72 to 188.04, Facebook, Inc. (FB) down 46 cents to 110.10, and First Solar, Inc. (FSLR), in a negative solar sector, down 1.15 to 60.39.

Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) also gave back 1.93 to 251.82.

Other gainers of note included Shutterstock, Inc. (SSTK), a swing trade of ours, up 1.00 to 42.21 was the only gainer on our board today.

To the downside, Targa Resources Corp. (TRGP), an oil company, lost 2.13 to 37.54, and Intrexon Corporation (XON) dropped 1.20 to 27.81.

Checking the The Tech Trader.com percent-gain leaderboard, leading the way, Legacy Reserves LP (LGCY) reached a high of 3.24 in the morning, and closed up 38 cents to 2.55, or 18%, on 7.8 million shares traded. Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (AVXL) gained 82 cents to 6.06, or 16%, on 7 million shares traded, a 400% increase in volume. Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. (EYES) bounced around all day, and closed up 44 cents to 5.85, or 8%, on 1.2 million shares. Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (TKAI) did a lot bouncing around also, and closed up 56 cents to 7.83, or 8%.

Aduro Bio Tech, Inc. (ADRO) climbed 16.22, before pulling back a little, and closing up 1.27 to 15.63, or 9%.

Among other gainers, Quotient Technology Inc. (QUOT) was moving up steadily all day, until early afternoon when it popped to 11.76, closing up 62 cents to 11.46.

The Velocity Shares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN (DGAZ) managed to run up to 15.53, before pulling back, and gained 1.01 to 14.89.

Oil and gas ETF’s were strong as the markets dropped back on oil today. The Velocity Shares 3x Inverse Crude Oil ETN (DWTI) jumped 5.83 to 111.48, and the Pro Shares Ultra Short Bloomberg Crude Oil (SCO), like many other stocks, bounced around all day, and closed up 3.34 to 105.00.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down in the morning, up midday, backed off and consolidated in the afternoon. They closed strong, but slightly negative.

Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Good Trading!