Stock Market Last-Hour Rollover Dampens Rally

By: Harry_Boxer

The stock market indices started off on a slightly weak note, but most of the stocks we follow and traded today had very good sessions.

The day started out with a gap up, followed by a sharp pullback to test the 1812 area on the Nasdaq 100 and the 1105 area on the S&P 500. The indices bounced sharply to resistance, backed off and retested, and when that was successful they embarked on a 5-wave multi-hour move. They reached the session highs late in the afternoon just under the multi-session rally highs on the SPX near 1112 but far short of that on the NDX at 1823, about 7 points short. In any case, in the last hour they rolled over very sharply, bounced in the last five minutes, but still ended down on the day.

Net on the day the Dow was down 18.97 at 10383.38, the S&P 500 down 1.16 at 1108.01, and Nasdaq 100 down 5.69 at 1817.63. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was off 0.99 at 342.55.

Advance-declines were nearly dead-even flat on the New York Stock Exchange, just slightly lower by about 22 issues. Up/down volume was also just slightly lower and light with a total volume of under 940 million today. On Nasdaq advance-declines were about 165 issues higher today and up/down volume was slightly to the downside on total volume of 1.9 billion.

However, TheTechTrader.com board, as noted earlier, had a substantial up-session today. Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) led the way, up 2.85 to 16.99. Telestone Technologies (TSTC) advanced 1.41 to 21.35, China Agritech (CAGC) 1.23 to 24.00, and China Automotive (CAAS) 2.21 to 19.33 in a generally very strong Chinese sector.

Other stocks of note, American International Group (AIG) jumped 1.90 to 28.43, Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) 70 cents to 15.28, Pacer International (PACR) 67 cents at 4.71, Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) 34 cents to 2.25, portfolio position Taser (TASR) 48 cents to 7.63, Sequenom (SQNM) 38 cents to 5.71, SmartHeat (HEAT) 59 cents to 13.75, A-Power Energy (APWR) 89 cents to 13.74, Nanometrics (NANO) 40 cents to 10.16, and Origin Agritech (SEED) 39 cents to 9.54.

The Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) was also a winner, up 2.21 to 74.84.

On the downside Xyratex Ltd. (XRTX) backed off 78 cents to 13.63, Brigham Exploration (BEXP) 70 cents to 15.97, and the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3x (FAZ) 53 cents down to 17.85. Other than that most of the losses were small fractions.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down sharply in the morning, bounced around mid to late morning, stabilzed and then rallied in the 5-wave move to the session highs before a last hour rollover took them back into the negative column. However, intraday moving averages held on the hourly charts, and support is still holding at NDX 1812 and SPX 1105-6. So we'll see what we get tomorrow and what kind of follow through they have.

Good trading!

Harry

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