Indices Close Narrowly Mixed
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The stock market indices were hit hard in the morning as economic news came out that disappointed a lot of traders. The market then went to nominal new lows below some key support levels on the Nasdaq 100, but right at it on the S&P 500. When that failed to follow through, they then rallied sharply, first starting off slowly, and then accelerating in early afternoon with an explosive move. It took the NDX up from 2745 to 2781, and the S&P 500 from 1396 to 1409. The move ran into declining tops resistance and backed off into the last hour, putting all of the indices slightly in the red.
Net on the day, the Dow was down 54.90 at 13,035.94, about 57 points off its high and 60 points off the low. The S&P 500 was up 1.64 at 1404.94, only 5 points off its high and 8 points off the low. The Nasdaq 100 was down on 21 cents at 2772.03, 9 points off the high and 8 points off the low.
Advance-declines were a little less than 3 to 2 positive on New York Stock Exchange, and about 3 to 2 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was slightly positive on New York, with total volume of 633 million shares. Nasdaq traded over 1.5 billion, and had a slightly positive volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was mixed. Some of the large-cap stocks were mixed as well. Google Inc. (GOOG) was down 4.05 to 681.04, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 9.73 to 674.97, and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was down 39 cents to 247.88.
Other gainers of note included Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX) was up 3.95 to 75.87, SolarWinds, Inc. (SWI) up 3.74 to 58.62, Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) 2.88 to 69.80, and Sourcefire, Inc. (FIRE) 2.39 to 54.28.
Percent gainers included Heckmann Corporation (HEK), which announced a merger, was up 1.02 to 3.71, or 38%, on 22.9 million shares. That was a significant technical breakout today. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (VRX), also announced a merger, gained a whopping 7.51 to 58.78, or 15%, on 1.7 million shares. Walter Investment Management Corp. (WAC) closed up 3.95 to 31.94, or 14%.
Biotech stocks were strong today. Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PPHM) advanced 39 cents to 2.93, or 15%, on 5.2 million shares. Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (SNTA) popped 99 cents to 7.56, or 15% on 2.2 million shares. Questcor Pharmaceutical (QCOR) jumped 4.35 to 47.79, or 10%, on 4.9 million shares. Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ISIS) closed up 1.48 to 15.09, or 11%, on 3.3 million shares. Amyris, Inc. (AMRS) advanced 38 cents to 3.50, or 12%.
These biotech stocks were among many other that were strong in this sector.
Ultra-long Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) was up 2.01 to 58.21.
On the downside, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) lost 3.79 to 55.93.
The ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) was down 1.88 to 46.97.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down sharply in the morning, and came back sharply to new session highs by late afternoon, only to pull back into the close on profit-taking to close narrowly lower on the session, but mixed on the technicals.
We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.
Good Trading!
Harry