Harry's Closing Boxer Brief
Daily Technical Market Analysis
Mon May 8th 2006
Solid Consolidation Day
By Harry Boxer, The Technical Trader (www.thetechtrader.com)
We had a pretty narrow session ahead of the FOMC meeting on Wednesday and we may get more of the same tomorrow. But it can be considered a solid consolidation day of the gains last week and perhaps setting up further gains later this week.
The day started out with a move up that quickly backed off in the mid-morning session. They came on again a couple times and tried to retest the highs but couldn't get through, and backed off in the last hour or so.
Net on the day, the Dow was up just 6.8, the SS&P 500 down 1.1, and the Nasdaq 100 up 1.4. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 3 1/2 points, so it was a mixed session, to say the least.
The technicals were very narrow, with advance-declines ahead by just 43 issues on New York and behind by 150 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 8 to 7 positive on New York with more than 1.5 billion traded. Nasdaq traded 1.7 billion with a nominal negative plurality.
TheTechTrader.com board was very active and mostly higher. There were some outstanding, big gainers today. Former Chart of the Week and current favorite, Pacific Ethanol (PEIX), was up a solid 4.27 on more than 7 million traded today, closing near the upper end of the range on the day. Another ethanol play, SunOpta (STKL), was up 1.10 to 11.77 on more than 5 million shares.
Recent Chart of the Week, Sierra Wireless (SWIR), popped 1.84 to a new 2-year high on 2 3/4 million, and Zevex (ZVXI) was up 2.63 to 24.
DXP Enterprises (DXPE), however, was the star of the day, up 6 1/2 on more than 1.1 million traded, snapping back from recent losses. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) advanced 1.10, Rediff.com India (REDF) 1.19, and BIDU, which reports earnings tomorrow, gained 78 cents late in the session.
Other stocks of note, Services Acquisition Corp. (SVI) was up 59 cents, Smith Micro (SMSI) 45 cents, and Internet Initiative Japan (IIJI), another internet portal, was up 47 cents.
On the downside, Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) gave back 1.54 and had a rough session. Chindex (CHDX) lost 70 cents, Ionatron (IOTN) 75 cents, and PW Eagle (PWEI) 1.24.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, as indicated earlier the day was a narrow consolidation-type session ahead of the FOMC meeting. We're just going to have to wait and see if they will continue to mark time or make a move one way or another before the meeting, but right now it looks like we may see another quiet day and a half before any real strong volatility occurs.
Good trading,
Harry
About Harry Boxer
