Stock Market Solid Gain but Disappointing Finish

Stock-Markets / Stock Index Trading Mar 05, 2009 - 01:55 AM GMT

Best Financial Markets Analysis Article The market ended with a solid gain for the session, but it disappointed with a last half-hour sell-off that took back a chunk of the gains. The day started out with a gap up. They backed and filled early in the session, but then took off in the morning, reaching the morning highs just before the lunch hour. During the lunch hour and shortly thereafter they consolidated in a flag-like fashion, holding intraday support, and came on again in the afternoon, especially on the S&P 500 and Dow, as the blue chips caught up with the NDX from yesterday.

With a half hour to go, the S&P 500 reached its declining 40-day moving average on the hourly charts, which proved to be formidable resistance, as the indices again sold off, giving back about 100 Dow points in the last half hour,14 on the NDX & 12 on the SPX

Net on the day the Dow was up nearly 150, the S&P 500 up 16 1/2, and the Nasdaq 100 up a little less than 30. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) gained 8.78 for a 4 1/2 percent gain.

----------------------
See Harry's Chart of the Day Video Presentation
----------------------

Advance-declines were positive by 4 to 1 on New York and about 2 1/2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 12 to 5 positive on New York on total volume of just under 1.8 billion. Nasdaq traded just over 2.3 billion and had a 5 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board had an excellent session. Other than the ultrashorts and some of the financials, most stocks on our board were up.

Point-plus gainers included Amazon (AMZN), which broke out of a beautiful bull flag and ran up 3.11 on nearly 11 million shares to close at 64.81. Apple (AAPL) was up 2.80 to 91.17, and Mosaic (MOS) was up 1.73 to 41.88.

Morgan Stanley (MS) jumped 1.22 to 19.40 in a mixed financial sector. JP Morgan (JPM) was down 1.71 to 19.30, and Wells Fargo (WFC) dropped 1.01 to 9.66.

There was negative news in the agriculture sector, and as a result Potash (POT) was down 2.07 to 74.63. But Agrium (AGU) managed to gain 1.67. So, a mixed picture in that sector, but there was a steep afternoon sell-off, before the snapback.

Other significant gains included DryShips (DRYS) up 1.11 to 3.90, a big percentage gain, on 31 million shares, and Excel Maritime (EXM) up 1.06 to 4.35. GNK closed up 2 to 11.04, as the Baltic Dry Index had a strong day, giving hope for firming prices in the shipping sector.

Among the ETFs, The Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) was up 1.75, the iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (EWZ) up 2.27, and iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) up 2.16, along with the U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) up 2.22.

However, the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) was down 7.96 to 98.52 and the SRS lost 3.20 to 87.42.

Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) jumped 1.19 to 20 even, and Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) gained 1.65 to 13.31 in a firm China sector.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices extended the snapback off yesterday's lows, but got up to key overhead resistance and backed off late in the session. We'll see if that's significant, and whether or not the indices can right themselves and extend the bounce off the lows to take out the declining 4-week channel and moving averages resistance.

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.