Indices Extend Rally
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The stock market had an interesting day on Friday as the indices had a strong thrust in the morning to take them to new multi-year highs. They then backed and filled in the morning, tried to break out again by midday, double-topping on the NDX, but falling far from the previous high on the S&P 500. That negative divergence caused a rollover in a 5-wave decline on the S&P 500, taking it from 1474 1/2 down to 1462, and the NDX dropped from 2865 to 2848. In the last 10 minutes, however, there was a snapback to preserve the gains.
Net on the day, the Dow was up 53.04 at 13,590.29, The S&P 500 was up 5.78 at 1465.77. The Nasdaq 100 closed up 23.88 at 2855.23, although that was 10 points off the high.
Advance-declines were about 21 to 9 1/2 positive on New York Stock Exchange, and 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 to 1 positive on New York, with total volume of 848 million shares. Nasdaq traded over 1.9 billion, and had a 3 1/2 to 1 positive volume ratio.
On TheTechTrader.com trading board, Apple Inc. (AAPL) got up to a new all-time high today at 696.98, closing at 691.28, up 8.30. Google Inc. (GOOG) was up 3.64 to 709.68, reaching 713 at one point in the day. Amazon (AMZN) reached 264.11 before backing off 4 points to close at 261.27, up 1.03.
Junior energy stocks were strong today. Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (CIE) was up 1.31 to 24.75, Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. (KOG) jumped 19 cents to 9.81, hitting 9.92, the highest in a few months. Royale Energy Inc. (ROYL) gained 48 cents to 2.94. Gulfport Energy Corp. (GPOR) advanced 1.93 to 31.56.
Other gainers of note included Facebook, Inc. (FB), up another 1.29 to 22.00 even, closing just 8 cents off the high, on 75.5 million shares. Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) was up 2.52 to 60.52. Patrick Industries Inc. (PATK) gained 1.02 to 14.61, and SolarWinds, Inc. (SWI), one of our current swing trades, was up 1.23 to 59.70, reaching an all-time new high at 60.95.
The big gainer today was low-priced and thinly traded Virco Mfg Corporation (VIRC), up 1.18 to 2.73, or 76%, on 17,000% on volume. BioFuel Energy Corp. (BIOF), another big winner, jumped 2.57 to 8.98, or 40%, on 3 million shares,or 3500% more volume than usual, and traded as high as 9.89 at one point.
Analogic Corporation (ALOG), which we traded today, exploded 11.25 to 80.44, or 16%, on 1 million shares. OfficeMax Incorporated (OMX) popped 1.04 to 8.15, or 14.6%, on 6 million shares. Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (SIMO) jumped 1.87 to 16.31, and Rediff.com India Limited (REDF) gained another 46 cents to 4.33, or 12%.
Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. (GNK) was up 39 cents to 3.90, or 11%, on 1.4 million shares. Groupon, Inc. (GRPN) gained 51 cents to 5.27, or 11%, on 19.5 million shares. On Assignment Inc. (ASGN) was up 1.90 to 19.09, or 11%, on 3.1 million shares.
Skullcandy, Inc. (SKUL) was up 1.17 to 13.09, Yelp, Inc. (YELP) gained 2.23 to 26.18, and First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) had a strong day, up 2.01 to 24.61. Stillwater Mining Co. (SWC) rose 1.06 to 13.91, Deckers Outdoor Corp. (DECK) 3.31 to 48.92 , Youku Inc. (YOKU) 1.42 to 20.89, and Aruba Networks, Inc. (ARUN) 1.56 to 22.38.
Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation (CDE), in the gold group, jumped 1.72 to 28.52. Tata Motors Limited (TTM) was up 1.45 to 25.41, Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) 1.99 to 36.75, Ryland Group Inc. (RYL) 1.70 to 31.52, Rosetta Resources, Inc. (ROSE) 2.76 to 49.74, and Cirrus Logic Inc. (CRUS) 2.38 to 44.18.
Ultra-long ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (UVXY) was up 2.02 to 32.72, rounding out the gainers on our board today.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up sharply in the morning with gaps and breakaway runs. They pulled back midmorning, retesting the highs on Nasdaq 100, but falling way short on the S&P 500. That signaled a possible pullback, which we got. Despite stair-stepping lower, especially on the S&P 500, they were able to snap back on the NDX in the last 10 minutes to preserve gains for the day and extend the rally for the week.
Have a great weekend.
Good Trading!
Harry