Very Solid Session

Harry Boxer The Technical Trader

The stock market indices had an up-day today, and a strong one, particularly by midday, making new all-time highs across the board. The day started out with a pop to the upside, a little pullback, and then they ran, the Nasdaq 100 going from 5197 to 5221, a new all-time high. In the afternoon, they came down to 5209, and bounced back to 5222, but couldn’t hold it, and backed off to 5212. The S&P 500 started out with a pop, and kept on running, reaching as high as 2320, a new all-time high, and backed off to 2307. All three indices came down slightly at the end of the day, but still closed in the green column.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 118.06 at 20,172.40. The S&P 500 was up 13.20 at 2307.87. The Nasdaq 100 was up 15.58 at 5212.16.

Advance-declines were 2 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 to 1 positive the Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 1/2 to 1 positive on New York, total volume of 3.6 billion shares traded. The Nasdaq traded 1.9 billion shares and had a 12 to 7 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was substantially higher for most today. Priceline.com (PCLN) was up 10.64 to 1611.83, Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) up 1.18 to 809.56, Apple Inc. (AAPL) up 94 cents to 132.41, Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) 1.65 to 821.36, but Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) dropped 60 cents to 144.14.

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) closed flat at 181.50, Facebook, Inc. (FB) closed down 6 cents to 134.14, and First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) popped 68 cents to 32.23.

Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) ran 7.12 to 269.20.

Other stocks to the upside included United States Steel Corp. (X) up 2.85 to 37.38, Shopify Inc. (SHOP) up 1.24 to 54.61, U.S. Concrete, Inc. (USCR) 1.00 to 64.25, and Twilio, Inc. (TWLO) 1.37 to 32.81.

Biotech’s were firm today with the Direxion Daily S&P Biotech Bull 3X ETF (LABU) up 2.24 to 44.23. Clovis Oncology Inc (CLVS) gained 1.72 to 65.13, although it reached a point and a half higher earlier in the day. Array BioPharma Inc. (ARRY) bounced 1.86 to 12.56,and Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AERI) popped 1.60 to 46.40, reaching a new all-time high today. Both of these are swing trades.

On the downside, the were fractional losers for the most part, except for NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA), down 2.23 to 116.38.

Checking TheTechTrader.com percent-gain leaderboard, USA Technologies, Inc. (USAT) closed up 80 cents, or 21%, to 4.70.

Ignyta, Inc. (RXDX) ran 1.60, or 28%, to 7.35, on 1.3 million shares traded.

Aqua Metals, Inc. (AQMS) exploded 4.75, or 42%, to 16.16, on 3.5 million shares traded on a deal with Johnson Controls. SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW) advanced 2.20, or 6.6%, to 35.50. Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (ACOR) bounced 4.25, or 21%, to 24.65, on 5.2 million shares traded. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) ran 1.85, or 19%, to 11.37, on 91 million shares traded. Insight Enterprises, Inc. (NSIT) rose 6.89, or 18 1/2%, to 44.17. OraSure Technologies, Inc. (OSUR) jumped 1.64, or 18 1/2%, to 10.49, on 4.8 million shares traded. Medidata Solutions, Inc. (MDSO) gained 7.80, or 16%, to 55.80, on 2.9 million shares traded.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices opened strong, ran in the morning, pulled back midday, rallied back in the afternoon, made nominal new highs, and backed off into the close. It was a very solid 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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