Looking For Leaders In This Market
May 19, 2008 | 5 Comments
One thing that I do not hear a lot about but that is very clear to me is that stocks that are leading ARE REALLY leading. That can be seen especially when it comes to the amount of stocks that are hitting new 52-week highs. About a couple months ago things started to slowly change when new 52-week lows stopped expanding at the pace they were.
After the March lows and a small market rally, the new high list started to slowly build. And now we are at a point where even on down days, the past two weeks, the amount of new highs either match, are breakeven, or barely losing to new lows.
On Friday there were 244 new 52-week highs to 95 new 52-week lows. This was the best reading I have seen yet, since God knows when. I know in the August to October there were a lot of stocks hitting new highs but I am not sure it looked THIS GOOD then.
The leadership is clearly focused in one area too. The energy stocks had 96 of the 224 stocks hitting new highs come from their list. These stocks that you should be watching for future bounces off the 50 DMA or breakout are PDO, FPP, ATN, PHII, RAME, HUSA, RDC, APWR, TELOZ, WLL, ESV, APC, WMB, OXY, GMXR, COP, NE, CVX, GTE, SFY, CNQ, GU, HOS, BTU, NXY, ECA, BTE, HK, CAM, HES, PDE, FTI, UNT, WFT, MCF, STR, PXD, HP, CPX, PXP, SPN, PBR, HAL, MMR, E, SSL, SWN, WTI, WHQ, PBRA, SM, EAC, GLF, PVA, FST, TTES, CXG, and WES. All of these stocks have GREAT fundamentals and are all leaders based on price performance.
How Much Longer Will The Good Time (The Rally Has Not Been Long Enough, To Be “Times”) Last?
May 9, 2008 | 1 Comment
I am not for sure about that answer but I have to admit the charts overall still look like they are trying to make a bottom. But like I have continuously warned about: if volume does not come back into this market on the upside, we are in danger of reversing some decent base building and that will probably discourage a lot of market participants which could open the door to more selling.
However, there is nothing wrong with being prepared, but until the market actually cracks, I will have to go with the short-term to intermediate term uptrend and ride the wave for however long it wants to last. The sad thing is that the way some of my stocks that looked great just a couple of weeks ago now look only average to somewhat above average. This is OK but in a brand new bull market, we would normally have 5-6 near-perfect to perfect charts right now. Instead I have one. One chart STILL looks “hot” out of about 4 or 5 that were starting to. Basically this has been the theme ever since April 2006 but thank God some gems here and there have still been able to shine through the rough.
It has been a long time since a WHOLE BUNCH of stocks setup in proper to perfect bases and then broke out and ran away. The truth is, I am only finding a few gems here and there and usually when I find a gem it fails. However, for every 3 or 4 that fail and that we can cut quickly thus saving ourselves a LOT of pain, we will always have one that can run. They might not be of high quality like AFSI but as long as 1 or 2 are around I guess that is good enough. But the further we go along without these near-perfect to perfect charts setting up or even holding on the more problems we will run into in the future.
Leading Stocks Take The Lead Once Again As Oil&Gas Stocks Produce Massive Gains; 79% Think We Are In A Recession And That Makes Me Bullish!
May 6, 2008 | 2 Comments
It was another overall lower volume session as the NYSE, for the 32nd day in-a-row, came in with volume below the 50 day volume average once again. However, underneath the bullish mini-reversal that sent the Nasdaq from a .8% loss to a .8% gain, there was a TON of bullish action in stocks in a wide range of industries.
When the day started off, it sure did not seem like the good times were going to continue as more bad news rolled in from so many areas that it seemed the market was due for a rest. June oil climbed $1.87 to close at $121.84 and hit an HOD of $122.73. This definitely sent some fear in the market, on top of the UBS negative banking report, the FNM and FRE announcement, and then going back to oil GS predicting it to hit $200. However, proving that markets climb a wall of worry, indexes were able to shake all of this nonsense off and most indexes closed near their HOD with every index but the DJIA up .8% (the DJIA was up .4%).
The best news was not the higher volume than the day before, either. No, the best news, once again, was the dramatic and dynamic leadership of the IBD leading indexes. The IBD 85-85 came in with a heavier volume 1.3% gain. Leading stocks continue a pattern that started about a month ago with them making moving lower on the down days and now rising higher on the up days. This pattern has really started to develop recently and appears to be continuing that path for a little while long, at least.
Money is Made in the Wating Game
April 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Stocks are clearly not ready to break to the upside, nor downside. Friday’s painful % decline was not all that bad. GE’s dismal display of earnings had many on the street shaken. Although a GIANT, GE is not a leader in this market and we should be caring about leadership not who is the biggest. GE’s volume accounted for more than 1/4 of the NYSE volume, without NYSE volume would have been pathetic let alone down.
Thursday’s action was definitely a positive sign for the permabull/goldilocks crowd, volume surged while we had price gains. However, Friday’s action is showing that this market isn’t quite ready to break up/down. Jesse Livermore always stated that more money was made by waiting rather than doing. CASH continues to be KING, throwing a large amount of dollars at this market will only get your account to shrink.
We can certainly be taking small positions, we have been here at Big Wave Trading. However, we are keeping a lot of cash on hand so we can be ready for the next big bull run.
Low Volume Consolidation After The Big April Fools Rally Is So-Far So-Good; CANSLIM Stocks Setup And Breakout But Volume Is Still Suspect
April 5, 2008 | 1 Comment
A weak open after a very poor employment report that showed the US lost 80,000 jobs in March with the unemployment rate moving up to 5.1%. It was a pretty lousy number but considering the fact that we had 25% unemployment after the crash of 1929 it isn’t “that” horrible. But the media, with a Republican still in White House, of course, made it sound like all hell was breaking was loose.
Maybe that is why the market could not build on the weakness and instead rallied higher the rest of the day off the lows until 2pm when traders unwound some of their longs into the weekend. Overall though, it was very positive action, following a strong rally on April Fool’s Day. That now makes it three constructive sessions in-a-row where stocks have held on to the gains.
Volume, however, was, once again, nowhere to be found as it came in lower for the third straight day on both exchanges. I would be A LOT more happy about the low volume consolidation if the indexes were pulling back. But they are slightly rallying on this low volume and while not bearish, by far, I still would much rather see higher volume gains and lower volume pullbacks. It is good to see that two of the three days on the DJIA have been lower. But overall they are slightly rising on lower and lower volume. Overall not a good LONG-TERM development. BUT! it is a very good short-term development as this is the first rally attempt that has not been thrown back immediately.
Brokers and Mortgage Lenders Dominate Trading
March 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Are you excited that the group leading Tuesday trade was the beaten down stocks? Oh yeah, the leadership we do not WANT.
Volume and VIX continue to show that we may not have seen our ultimate lows. The drop in the VIX yesterday tells me the willingness for the market participants to believe we have bottomed. This is very dangerous and toss in a lower volume massive rally. It only spells trouble for those who throw their eggs into this market’s basket.
The Easter Bunny is not always so nice.
Market Speculator
Stock Indexes Follow-Through On Day Six Of Rally Attempt; Something Seems Wrong About This Follow-Through
March 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Stocks were boring and dead all day long, until 2:15pm when the Fed announced their decision on interest rates. When that happened, stocks exploded to the upside, destroying shorts in the process. The party was not started based on the decision, as everyone expected rates to stay at 5.25%. The fireworks erupted because the Fed left out the hawkish comments and adopted a more neutral rate policy. That sparked non-stop buying on strong volume, into the close.
At the close, the Nasdaq led the way with a 2% rally, retaking its 50 day moving average. The SP 500 and NYSE also retook their 50 day moving averages, with each rallying 1.7%. The SP 600 gained 1.6%, the SP 400 rallied 1.4%, and the DJIA gained 1.3%, rounding out a strong day in the markets. The two indexes that are throwing up a red flag to me are: The IBD 100 and the IBD 85-85 index. The IBD 100 gained 1.8% and the IBD 85-85 gained 1.6%, both lagging the Nasdaq’s gains. Normally at the start of a strong bull market, where we get a follow-through, these indexes will lead the market. They did in all the other bottoms, since October 2002, except the most recent one in July/August. Then these indexes also lagged in what turned out to be the weakest bull market I have been a part of.
Volume was much higher today on the NYSE and the Nasdaq. Nasdaq’s volume came in higher by 26%, but the NYSE only saw a 12% jump in volume. That is not a big volume increase over the previous day on such strong price gains. The other problem with the volume is the fact that on the NYSE it was only even with the 50 day volume average. On the Nasdaq it was only a tad higher than the 50 day volume average. On the best and most powerful follow-throughs that launch strong rallies, the indexes will normally launch a rally on volume well above this average. That did not happen this time, so this is another red flag on the rally.
Stocks Indexes Keep Rallying; New Buy Candidates Drying Up As Most Are Extended Beyond Proper Buy Points
February 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment
There was plenty of economic data for the market to feast upon, on Thursday. However, neither that or continued testimony by Ben was able to really move stocks one way or the other. Though industrial output fell by the largest amount in 17 months, stocks didn’t mind and were able to close higher across the board, for the third straight day. Read more
Stocks Finish The Week With More Strong Gains; Nasdaq Follows Through On Thursday’s Breakout.
January 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment
On the back of a bullish retail sales report showing December sales rose .9%, stocks scored more gains with the Nasdaq making it five for five this week with positive finishes. The DJIA hit another all-time high and the Nasdaq inched closer to a new six-year high.
At the close, the SP 600 led with a .75% gain, the Nasdaq followed with a strong .7% gain, the SP 500 gained .5%, and the DJIA finished up .3%. The IBD 100 came in with a .3% gain, unfortunately for leading stocks. However, for the week the IBD outpaced the market with a 3.4% gain.
