The markets had a reasonable consolidation day, but ended lower on the session, due to profit-taking from a very overbought condition. Although at mid-day they did reach new rally highs, a pullback in the last couple hours pulled them back into negative territory.

The day started out with a gap down. They went lower and reached session lows early in the first half hour, rallied nicely and snapped back to retest the highs, but at that point went sideways in a multi-hour consolidation. They ended up breaking out after lunch hour and moved to the session highs, but pulled back the rest of the afternoon. Only a late last 20-30 minute snapback brought them back to pare the losses.

Net on the day the Dow was down nearly 82, the S&P 500 down 4 1/3, and the Nasdaq 100 1.18. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) managed to gain 1.38 in a relatively stronger semiconductor sector.

Advance-declines were 2 to 1 positive on New York, but positive by just 245 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 7 to 6 positive on New York on total volume of 1.3 billion, which is lighter than normal, but an increase over recent levels. Nasdaq traded a little more than 1.7 billion and was flat on up/down volume .

TheTechTrader.com board had an exceptionally strong day today. Leading the way were the agriculture stocks. Potash (POT) at 82.62 was up 5.27. Mosaic (MOS) gained 81 cents, CF Holdings (CF) 2.97, and Agrium (AGU) 99 cents.

Multiple-point gainers included Apple (AAPL), up 3.83. The U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) gained 1.67, and the iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (EWZ) was up 1.38 to 38.08. The Ultra Oil & Gas ProShares (DIG) gained 1.14, as would be expected with crude oil increasing.

Other stocks of note, Multi Fineline Electronix (MFLX) on an upgrade in earnings and upward guidance advanced 3.40 to 15.68 on less than half a million shares. SunPower (SPWR) at 44.15 was up 3.75 in a very firm solar sector. Canadian Solar (CSIQ) advanced 65 cents to 7.04.

Sequenom (SQNM), one of our portfolio positions, jumped to 3-month highs at 26.42, up 2.84 on 2 1/4 million, and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) gained 1.58 to 29.38. Emergent BioSolutions (EBS), a portfolio position, snapped back 2 points off its earlier low, closing up 1.17 at 26.26.

DryShips (DRYS) had a spectacular session, reaching as high as 14.44, backing off late in the afternoon to close at 13.85, still up 1.36 on nearly 35 million shares today. Aerovironment (AVAV) jumped 1.12 and hit a new all-time high today at 39.73, and Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) snapped back over 16 to close at 16.10, up 45 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns as indicated earlier they were down early, rallied to new rally highs by mid-afternoon, and then pulled back at the end of the day to end negatively on the session. It was not too bad a sell-off considering the overbought condition of the market.

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) 2008 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.