Closing Technical Market Comments for Mon Aug 27, 2007
Week Begins on Losing Note[b]
By Harry Boxer, The Technical Trader (www.thetechtrader.com)
The week started out on a losing note. The session started out with sloppy action and a move downward. They slid all morning. Mid-morning lows were retested just before lunch hour, and then when the market held successfully at initial key support they rallied back to nominal new highs on the Nasdaq 100 in mid-afternoon and just beneath that on the S&P 500. When there was no follow-through they had a 3-step decline, which accelerated into the close, particularly in the last 10 minutes, which put the indices at the afternoon lows on the NDX and the session lows on the S&P 500.
Net on the day the Dow was down 56 3/4, the S&P 500 12 ½ and the Nasdaq 100 just short of 14. The OEX was down 4 ¾ and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 8.
The technicals confirmed the negative session today, with advance-declines negative by 2 ½ to 1 on New York and by about 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was even worse, 3 ½ to 1 negative on New York on rather light total volume of under 1.2 billion. Nasdaq traded under 1.3 billion and had a better than 2 to 1 negative plurality.
With the final week in August normally being a quieter week volume-wise, it sure started out that way.
TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but there were plenty of point-plus gainers. Leading the way today by was one of our former Charts of the Year and old favorite of ours Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH), which on positive news jumped 13.33, a gain of some 25% or so, on nearly 10 million shares, very heavy volume for that stock.
Other point-plus gainers included Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX), up 3.42 on 8 million shares. It was our Chart of the Day, a tremendously bullish intraday chart in a rising channel. NVE Corp. (NVEC) was up 2.28, and low-priced Superconductor Technologies (SCON) gained 2.61, a huge percentage gain on 12.8 million shares, closing at 5.94.
Other point-plus gainers included Force Protection (FRPT) up 1.49, China Medical Technologies (CMED) up 1.66 and Blue Phoenix (BPHX) up 1.13.
On the downside, Eschelon Corp(ELON) fell 1.07 and FuelTek (FTEK) 1.21. Those were the only point-plus losers.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices had a negative session today with three distinctive swings: down in the morning, up in the early afternoon, and then down towards the close. The blue chips appeared weaker than the NDX, at least today, and we'll see if key support at 1945 is taken out tomorrow on the Nasdaq 100, as the 7-day trendline was broken at the close.
The S&P 500, however, is still above its 7-day channel bottom and trendline. That currently exists around the 1464 area. We'll see if that holds tomorrow as well.
Good trading!
Harry
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