Good morning! The market climbed slowly higher on Wednesday, taking the Nasdaq Composite ($COMP) and S&P 500 ($SPX) to their best levels in over four and half years. This tripped the daily flag setups we were looking at in the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU). By the end of the day the Nasdaq managed to close at 2,359.75, up 14.39 points. The S&P 500 rose 5.63 points to end at 1,311.56. The Dow climbed 35.70 points to 11,239.55. Among the gainers were semiconducotrs, networkers, computer hardware stocks, energy, oil services, retailers, and particularly home builders. Biotechs and drug stocks lost on the day, but only by a hair.

Despite the new highs, the intraday performance in the market left a lot to be desired. Initially, the market rose out of the open, but by 10:15 ET that advance had subsided and the gradual upward move in the S&P 500 and Dow that took place into Tuesday's close came to an end. The Dow saw the strongest selling pressure, dropped back into the gap zone from Monday. It put in three strong downside moves on the 5 minute charts before hitting that support. At the same time the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 EMinis came into 5 minute 200 sma support, helping reverse the trend into the early afternoon.

The market moved quickly once the pivot took hold off late morning lows. It stalled only briefly for about 15-20 minutes and then picked up pace into 13:00 ET. This took the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to new intraday highs. As in the prior afternoon, however, the last three hours of the day were very sloppy. There was a great deal of overlap on the five and fifteen minute charts and, although the market still made new intraday highs, the volume was relatively light and the market lacked the conviction to rally into the close.

Over the next few days I anticipate seeing even more upside. I am still concerned by the slower upside intraday compared to the prior declines, but the more gradual pullback Wednesday morning in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq attempted to ease that. The Dow didn't cooperate as well due to its morning drop. Hence, I am looking higher, but there is still the potential for another correction on the 60-120 minute charts. Ideally it would be slower and choppier. This would allow for the pace to increase on the buying and lower the risk of the more rapid intraday pullbacks continuing.

Economic Reports and Events
Apr 06: Initial Claims 04/01 (8:30 am)
Apr 07: Average Workweek for Mar (8:30 am), Hourly Earnings for Mar (8:30 am, Nonfarm Payrolls for Mar (8:30 am), Unemployment Rate for Mar (8:30 am), Wholesale Inventories for Feb. (10:00 am), Consumer Credit (15:00 pm)
Apr 10: -
Apr 11: -
Apr 12: Trade Balance for Feb. (8:30 am), Crude Inventories 04/07 (10:30 am), Treasury Budget for Mar (14:00 pm)
Apr 13: Business Inventories for Feb. (8:30 am), Export prices ex-ag for Mar (8:30 am), Import Prices ex-oil for Mar (8:30 am), Initial Claims 04/08, Retail Sales for Mar (8:30 am), Retail Sales ex-auto for Mar (8:30 am), Mich. Sentiment-Prel. for Apr (9:50 am)
Apr 14: Capacity Utilization for Mar (9:15 am), Industrial Production for Mar (9:15 am)

Earnings Announcements of Interest
Only stocks with an average daily volume of 500K+ are listed. List may not be complete so be sure to always check your stock's earnings date before holding a position overnight. (A) = Earnings after the close, (B) = Earnings before the open, (?) = Earnings time not specified at the time of this writing
Apr. 5: BBBY (?), CBK (A), MON (B),
Apr. 6: AM (B), STZ (A), LWSN (A), PIR (B), RIMM (?), RAD (?), RPM (B)
Apr. 7: NDN (?)
Apr. 10: AA (?), SCHN (B)
Apr 11: DNA (A), LPL (?), MOS (?)
Apr 12: CBH (B), GCI (B), GTK (B), HDI (B), LRCX (A), SOSA (A)
Apr 13: MTG (B), NYT (?), TRB (B), VCP (?)
Apr 14: -
Note: All economic numbers and earnings reports are in lines with those compiled by Yahoo Finance. Occasionally changes will occur that are made after the posting of this column.

Toni Hansen is President and Co-founder of the Bastiat Group, Inc., and runs the popular Trading From Main Street. She can be reached at Toni@tradingfrommainstreet.com.