Closing Technical Market Comments for Mon Aug 13, 2007
Indices Give Back Early Gains in Quieter Session
By Harry Boxer, The Technical Trader (www.thetechtrader.com)
Today was about as dull a Monday as I've seen in a long time. The markets opened with a strong gap-up, but immediately went into a consolidation mode, trying to make higher highs on the NDX but failing to do that on the S&P 500. Then a mid-day pullback brought them to the lows for the day at that point. An afternoon rally tried to retest the highs, but they failed to take them out, and they pulled back. Late in the day they bounced twice but were unable to take out the lows or highs and closed near the lows for the day.
Net on the day the Dow gave back a 100-point gain and closed down 3 on the day. The S&P 500 gave back a 14-point gain and closed down less than a point. The Nasdaq 100 gave back 12 points, still closed up 9 ¼ on the day. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) fell 2 ½ today and about 7 points off the high.
The technicals slipped into the negative side in the last hour, with advance-declines negative by about 230 issues on New York and by 264 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was close to flat on both exchanges. Total volume was lighter today, with 1.7 billion on New York and 2.15 billion on Nasdaq.
TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, with several point-plus gainers and losers. On the plus side, shipping stocks had a strong day, with DryShips (DRYS) up 1.76 and Excel Maritime (EXM) up 2.01. Ceragon Networks (CRNT) snapped back 1.04 today.
Other gains of note, Force Protection (FRPT) was up 70 cents on news of a contract. Blue Phoenix (BPHX) had a very strong session, up nearly a point, closing above 13. Immersion Corp. (IMMR) gained 48 cents, LSB Industries (LXU) up 57 cents, Spectrum Control (SPEC) 91 cents, Telular (WRLS) up 60 cents. Chart of the Week Igate Corp. (IGTE) was up 28 cents and Ascent Solar (ASTI) up 31 cents. ALVR also gained 31 cents.
On the downside, FuelTek (FTEK) got hammered on a negative report, down 2.71. GEO Group (GEO) fell 1.43. But the big loser today was LEND, whose merger fell apart. The stock dropped 3.09 today on 15 million shares.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, today was definitely a consolidation day, as the indices closed at the low end of the range and rather disappointingly, giving up much of the earlier gains.
Good trading!
Harry
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