Stocks Fall On Negative Economic Data

ByAdam Sarhan

The market remains resilient as it simply refuses to go down. Longstanding readers of this column know that we prefer to focus more on how the market reacts to the news than the news itself. That said, the bears had all the possible ammunition to send stocks plunging on Tuesday and the fact that they did not (or could not), speaks volumes. In addition, the market remains strong since it has barely “corrected” and continues consolidating its recent move just below resistance. The bulls deserve the bullish benefit of the doubt until one of the major averages trades, and closes, below its respective 50 day moving average line.

Stocks End Mixed As Volume Recedes

ByAdam Sarhan

The stock market ended mixed on Monday after trading in a very tight range for most of the session. Volume, an important indicator of institutional sponsorship, was lower than Friday’s levels on both major exchanges which suggested large institutions were not aggressively selling stocks. Advancers led decliners by about a 10-to-9 ratio on the NYSE and were roughly even on the Nasdaq exchange. There were 29 high-ranked companies from the CANSLIM.net Leaders List that made a new 52-week high and appeared on the CANSLIM.net BreakOuts Page, less than the total of 45 issues that appeared on the prior session. Leadership among high-ranked growth stocks had dried up in recent weeks, so the expansion in new highs this week has been a welcome improvement. New 52-week highs solidly outnumbered new 52-week lows on the NYSE and on the Nasdaq exchange.

Week In Review: Leaders Get Hit As Market Churns

ByAdam Sarhan

Initially, the market rallied on the jobs report but sellers quickly emerged which put pressure on the market. It was disconcerting to see a several high profile leaders such as Apple Inc. (AAPL -1.61%) and Netflix (NFLX -3.04%) get smacked on Friday. Apple, one the strongest stocks since the March lows, triggered a technical sell signal when it violated its well defined 8-month upward trendline and its 50 DMA line on Friday. This was the first time since the March low that Apple closed below support (its upward trendline and 50 DMA line). Volume surged as the stocks fell which indicated that large institutional investors were unloading their positions, not Aunt Mary or Uncle Bob. The dollar rallied sharply after the jobs report was released which put pressure on a slew of commodities, mainly gold. Gold plunged sharply today which dragged a slew of gold related stocks. Remember that gold has been one of the strongest performing groups in recent weeks and now that it has fallen, a new group will need to emerge to carry this market higher. That coupled with the recent questionable action in the major averages and the dearth of leadership suggests this rally is “under pressure” which means caution is advised.

Stocks Negatively Reverse After Encountering Resistance

ByAdam Sarhan

The major averages negatively reversed (opened higher and closed lower) after a the European Central Bank (ECB) held rates steady and disappointing economic data was released. Volume, an important indicator of institutional sponsorship, was mixed compared to Wednesday’s levels; higher on the NYSE and lower on the Nasdaq exchange. As a result, the NYSE indexes marked a distribution day as they fell on higher volume but the Nasdaq avoided one since volume receded.