The markets had a slightly lower session today in what looked like a consolidation day, as support was tested severely on two occasions and held, resulting in a late sharp rally back on the indices over the last hour, sharply reducing the losses.

The day started out with a move down. The indices tested support, bounced around for a couple hours during mid-day and could not get back through resistance, and then had a sharp sell-off in mid-afternoon that severely retested the early morning lows, but they ended up holding those support levels. That resulted in a late sharp snapback that actually took the NDX to nominal new session highs, while the SPX failed to confirm at that point, and they pulled back just slightly into the close.

Net on the day the Dow was down just 16.09 and closed above 8400 at 8410.65, the S&P 500 down 3.44 to 903.80, and the Nasdaq 100 down 4.15 to 423.81. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 3.61 to 268.70.

Advance-declines were negative by 311 issues on New York and by 250 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 8 to 7 positive on New York with 1 1/2 billion traded. Nasdaq traded 2 1/2 billion and had a 13 to 12 negative volume ratio.

So, it was a narrower, but somewhat volatile session intraday. There was a crack in the armor in the financials, as stocks like Wells Fargo (WFC), down 98 cents, and JP Morgan (JPM), down 97 cents, were mixed with Bank of America (BAC), up 46 cents, and Goldman Sachs (GS), up 1.04. So a mixed picture in the financials, and perhaps they are getting tried and long in the tooth as they're really had strong runs in the last two months.

TheTechTrader.com board mostly higher. Leading the way was Mosaic (MOS), up 2.05 to 46.27, and Amazon (AMZN), up 2.13 to 81.90. Those were the only stocks on our board up more than 2 points.

Research in Motion (RIMM) was up 1.10, and American Italian Pasta (AIPC) up 1.32.

The ultrashort ETFs were up slightly today, with the UltraShort Financial ProShares (SKF) up 1.29 to 49.19, UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) up 1.22 to 22.36, and the FXP up 80 cents to 16.88.

On the downside, the only one point-plus loser was SunPower (SPWR), off 1.68 to 28.50.

Cree Inc. (CREE) lost 82 cents to 28.10, and the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) dropped 86 cents to 34.30.

There were small minor fractional changes in the FAS/FAZ complex, with the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) up 24 cents, the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) down 35 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the rising moving averages and trendllines remain unscathed, as today's action on the hourly charts appears to be nothing more than bull flags or orderly consolidations ahead of potentially higher prices.

Despite the fact that the oscillators are overbought, today's action will partly offset some of the recent excesses and pull the oscillators back to less overbought ranges. But the grind higher continues, with support continuing to hold. I'm still looking for a potential high in this timeframe, although I've been saying that for the last two weeks now and the market continues to press ahead.

Good trading!

Harry

For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a FREE 15-Day Trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary. Or sign up for a Free 30-Day Trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.

(c) 2009 AdviceTrade, Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed only by written permission of AdviceTrade and The Technical Trader at info@advicetrade.com . In using any portion of Harry Boxer's content, you agree to the terms and conditions governing the use of the service as described in our disclaimer at http://www.thetechtrader.com

Mr. Boxer's commentaries and index analysis represent his own opinions and should not be relied upon for purposes of effecting securities transactions or other investing strategies, nor should they be construed as an offer or solicitation of an offer to sell or buy any security. You should not interpret Mr. Boxer's opinions as constituting investment advice. Trades mentioned on the site are hypothetical, not actual, positions.

Harry Boxer Archive

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in

The Market Oracle is a FREE Financial Markets Forecasting & Analysis web-site.
(c) 2005-2024 MarketOracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd) - Market Oracle Ltd asserts copyright on all articles authored by our editorial team and all comments posted. Any and all information provided within the web-site, is for general information purposes only and Market Oracle Ltd do not warrant the accuracy, timeliness or suitability of any information provided on this site. nor is or shall be deemed to constitute, financial or any other advice or recommendation by us. and are also not meant to be investment advice or solicitation or recommendation to establish market positions. We do not give investment advice and our comments are an expression of opinion only and should not be construed in any manner whatsoever as recommendations to enter into a market position either stock, option, futures contract, bonds, commodity or any other financial instrument at any time. We recommend that independent professional advice is obtained before you make any investment or trading decisions. By using this site you agree to this sites Terms of Use. From time to time we promote or endorse certain products / services that we believe are worthy of your time and attention. In return for that endorsement and only in the cases where you purchase directly though us may we be compensated by the producers of those products.