The indices had a very volatile session, swinging back and forth at least 12 times, failing on several occasions to breakout to the upside, but also holding early morning support lows for most of the day. But, near the end of the day they came down near the session lows and closed in a very negative fashion, particularly on the S&P 500, which closed right at the morning spike lows around 735 and just pennies off the low.

Net on the day the Dow was down 119, the S&P 500 down 17 3/4, and the Nasdaq 100 more than 10. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) fell 2.47.

The day started out with a sharp move down, and as indicated they swung back and forth all day in a range of about 20 points on the Nasdaq 100 and 15 points on the S&P 500. But at the end they spiked down near the session lows on the S&P 500 and just above them on the Nasdaq 100.

The ugly action was led by the financials, which were sharply lower. Wells Fargo (WFC) dropped 2.30 to 12.10, Bank of America (BAC) 1.37 to 3.95, and Citigroup (C) fell 96 cents to 1.50 on 865 million shares. Morgan Stanley (MS) at 19.54 was down 1.79, and Hartford Financial Services (HIG) at 6.10 was down 1.06.

SunPower (SPWR) was down 1.68 to 27.89 in a very weak solar sector, and American Pasta (AIPC) gave back 1.19 to 30.69 today.

On the plus side, Amazon (AMZN) had a very good day, up 2.45 to 64.79. The agriculture stocks were strong, with Mosaic (MOS) up 3.39 and CF Holdings (CF) up 1.58. However, Potash (POT), which had been up as much as 4 points earlier, dropped back to 83.97, up just 13 cents at the close.

Among the ultra ETFs, the Ultra Oil & Gas ProShares (DIG) was down 1.05 today, the Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) 1.31, and the FAS 91 cents in the weak financial sector.

On the plus side, the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) was up 7.43, Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) 4.50 and SOS 1.96.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped lower and stayed down all day. Despite rallying back to near unchanged on the session on a couple occasions, they were not able to punch through and closed weakly at the lows for the week and for the entire three week decline since the high earlier this month.

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.