Closing Boxer Brief
Nightly technical market analysis by Harry Boxer that reviews the session's key movers and highlights technical levels to watch.
Distinct Four-Wave Decline
The stock market indices suffered a down day today, and although they started with a brief flurry to the upside, that was about it. They sold off quickly in the morning, tested support and bounced and then consolidated, with the S&P 500 acting a bit better than the Nasdaq 100. But with Apple (AAPL) under pressure today, Nasdaq led the way down as they resumed their sell-off in the afternoon when they broke through the neckline support around the 1800 area on the NDX and 1108 on the SPX.
Mixed, Consolidation Session
The stock market indices started out with a bang, gapping up and running to new rally highs that touched 1900 on the Nasdaq 100 and near 1121 on the S&P 500. They then had a strong 3-wave sell-off after the Consumer Confidence Index came out negatively, dropping to 1880 on the NDX and 1110 on the SPX. They bounced, took back about 50% of the losses, and then retested.
Strong Start to the Week
The stock market indices started out with a very strong session to begin the week. At the get-go they did back off to test, but immediately held and then came on strong in a 3-wave rally that took the indices up to new rally highs at 1887 on the Nasdaq 100 and 1113 on the S&P 500. A 3-wave decline pulled them back, but it was orderly and held support, and in the last hour they bounced back to set new highs for the entire move at just over 1890 on the NDX, and right at 1115 on the SPX.
Excellent Day for the Bulls
The indices had an excellent day for the bulls, as they gapped up big, blew through initial resistance and kept running, reaching 1870 on the Nasdaq 100 and 1097 area on the S&P 500. Over the next few hours, they pulled back, bounced again, couldn't get through, and then backed off late in the session, but in the last 15-20 minutes came on again to finish with strong gains. Net on the day, the Dow was up 201.77 at 10,322.30, the S&P 500 up 24.08 at 1093.67, and the Nasdaq 100 up 45.80 at 1863.10.
Sharp Rollover on Bernanke Warning
The stock market indices started the day with a big gap up, but that was it for the day in terms of the highs. They came down sharply, tested support, and did manage to hold by mid-morning and rally into early afternoon, but the S&P 500 failed to take out the 1085 intraday resistance level as the Nasdaq 100 made nominal new highs. That resulted in a sharp rollover after Ben Bernanke spoke about his concerns about the economy.
