The stock market indices suffered a nasty decline at the end of the day to cap off quite the negative session. It was a bit of a surprise to finish the year, as some very late unexpected profit-taking hit the indices.
The stock market indices suffered a nasty decline at the end of the day to cap off quite the negative session. It was a bit of a surprise to finish the year, as some very late unexpected profit-taking hit the indices.
The day started out with a gap up and move up to retest the highs. That was the 4th time this week alone the Nasdaq 100 got up to the 1880-82 zone and couldn’t break through., The S&P 500 made a lower high for the 3rd day in a row and continued to fail to confirm. As result of that, and when no rally materialized late in the session, the indices rolled over hard and closed at the lows for the day going away.
There was a mid-day lull in which a test of key support held on three occasions, but that gave way in the last 30 minutes and triggered the late decline.
Net on the day the Dow was down 120.46 at 10428.05, the S&P 500 down 11.32 at 1115.10, and the Nasdaq 100 down 18.34 at 1860.31.
Advance-declines were more than 2 to 1 negative on New York and about 5 to 3 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume, however, was the story, better than 4 ½ to 1 negative on New York on total volume of a very light 670 million. Nasdaq traded 1.2 billion and had a nearly 4 to 1 negative volume ratio.
The majority of stocks on the TheTechTrader.com board closed lower. The only point-plus gainer was Goldman Sachs (GS), up 2.14 to 168.84. The only point-plus losers were Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU), which dropped 1.58, and Origin Agritech (SEED) 1.03 to 11.77 after yesterday’s BIG rally.
Some of the better fractional gainers today were China Agritech (CAGC) up 45 cents to 27.95, and Telestone Technologies (TSTC) up 25 cents to 19.84.
Other than that, most stocks were up just pennies if at all. Portfolio positions Energy Recovery (ERII) gained 15 cents to 6.88 and Kandi (KNDI) 12 cents to 4.40.
Some of the ultrashort ETFs were strong, with the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) up 47 cents to 17.11, the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) 28 cents to 7 1/2, Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) 24 cents to 19.43, and the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) 41 cents to 9.86.
On the downside, large fractional losses included AsiaInfo (ASIA), which dropped 63 cents to 30.45. The Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) lost 93 cents to 74.13, Sourcefire (FIRE) 62 cents to 26.74, and RINO International (RINO) 67 cents to 27.65.
Other than that, China Automotive (CAAS) gave back 48 cents to 18.71, A-Power Energy (APWR) 55 cents to 18.29, and Nanometrics (NANO) lost 34 cents to 11.33.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices opened higher, but that was it for the day. After failing for the 4th time this week, they came down hard early on in a 3-wave decline, bounced three times off key support over the next several hours, couldn’t muster a rally, then rolled over hard in the last half hour. A nasty close to the year, but why not after such a huge run we’ve had after the March lows.
Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com.