Good day! The market finally put in a reprieve to last week's selling as Monday rolled around. It's uncommon to have more than three days in a row where the market holds the 15 minute 20 sma on a trend and this time was no exception. Due to the strength of the downside, however, the market didn't really manage to pick itself off the floor, and instead it fell into a choppy range throughout the entire trading day.

After opening and selling off a bit more for the first 15 minute of the day, the market continued to hold well at the subsequent reversal periods of 10:15, 10:45, 11:00, 14:00, and 15:30 ET. Each one brought with it a pivot off support or resistance. We didn't see much for patterns intraday though. If you weren't up for trading the support and resistance levels for pivots you likely had a rather dull day. If you weren't careful though, you could have also had a pretty bad day. I've gotten beat up on sessions like this before the past. As a result, I quickly learned that if I miss the pivots, it's not worth trying to pretend there is a decent setup when there isn't. You cannot afford to be greedy.

Even into the afternoon, the market was unable to move higher. After the rally off mid-day lows, we had potential for a stronger move into the close, but when the market corrected at morning highs, it pulled back too quickly. Instead of basing at the highs to form a nice cup with handle on the 15 minute charts, it tried for a smaller one on the 5 minute, but held the early afternoon highs before falling back again.

The odds are pretty decent that the market continues to see a more choppy session on Tuesday. We are at a great deal of daily and weekly support and the volume has spiked significantly to indicate exhaustion. As a result, I think we need to correct more off this zone, but I want to get some decent intraday setups going before committing to it. With the pace so much stronger on this last drop on the daily charts as compared to the prior one, the risk on trying to time the lows is even greater. This is not a good time to be "buying the pullbacks" for longer term holds in my humble opinion.

As far as the two stocks we've been following lately go, MRK as a swingtrade hit it's target and those trying for more were taken out with trailing stops. DG has not set up yet, but is starting to become higher risk since it's now under a lot of the daily moving average support levels I wanted to see hold. I have no other new positions at the moment. I'll be out of town tomorrow so I'll be missing out on all the fun, but if I were there I'd be sticking mainly to daytrades at the moment.

Economic Reports and Events
Apr 19: Building permits for Mar (8:30 am), Core PPI for Mar (8:30 am), Housing Starts for Mar (8:30 am), PPI for Mar (8:30 am)
Apr 20: Core CPI for Mar (8:30 am), CPI for Mar (8:30 am), Fed's Beige Book (2:00 pm)
Apr 21: Initial Claims 04/16 (8:30 am), Leading Indicators for Mar (10:00 am), Philadelphia Fed for Apr (12:00 pm)
Apr 22: -
Apr 25: Existing Home Sales for mar (10:00 am)
Apr 26: Consumer Confidence for Apr (10:00 am), New Home Sales for Mar (10:00 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 stocks' earnings dates 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 19: ADTN (B), ASD (B), ASO (B), ARMHY (?), BOL (B), BSX (B), CDWC (?), CHB (A), CHFR (A), CNB (B), CYMI (?), DHI (B), DOV (A), EMC (B), FRX (?), FCX (B), GM (08:00 am ET), GILD (A), ITW (08:00 am ET), RX (A), N (A), INTC (?), JNJ (B), JCI (B), JNPR (A), KFT (A), LH (B), LU (?), MEL (?), MGG (B), NCC (?), NTRS (B), PTV (A), RSH (?), SAFC (?), STX (A), SGTL (A), SGI (?), SOV (A), STT (B), SYK (A), SVU (B), SY (B), TASR (B), TER (A), CAKE (A), KO (B), USB (B), WFC (A), YHOO (?)
Apr 20: ALGN (?), ADS (?), MO (?), ABK (B), DOX (A), AWA (?), ATMI (B), CNI (?), COF (A), CAT (B), CLS (A), CINF (B), CIT (B), CTXS (A), CNF (B), CMA (B), CNXT (?), CAL (B), CTB (B), CBST (A), DCN (?), ET (?), EBAY (?), EPIC (A), EXTR (A), EYET (A), FFIV (4:00 pm ET), FLIR (?), F (?), GD (?), GNTX (?), GDW (?), HET (?), HON (08:00 am ET), JPM (B), JNS (B), KMI (?), NITE (B), LLTC (?), ¸LIN (?), MERQ (A), MOT (A), NYB (B), NCX (B), OMM (A), PMCS (A), PLCM (A), QCOM (?), RDN (A), RYL (A), SBC (08:00 am ET), FON (B), STJ (B), TCB (B), TLAB (B), ALL (A), BK (B), UTX (B), VRSN (?), WEBX (A), WYE (B), YUM (A), ZHNE (A)
Apr 21: ACS (?), AFFX (A), ACL (?), ATI (B), AT (B), ABC (B), AMGN (?), ARBA (A), T (?), ADP (B), BAX (B), BEBE (?), BLS (B), BRCM (A), CZR (B), ELY (A), ED (?), CMI (B), CY (B), DHR (B), DV (?), DCLK (A), ELNK (B), ECL (B), ELX (?), FHN (B), FISV (A), FDRY (A), FSL (A), GENZ (B), GVHR (?), GOOG (?), GDT (?), HAR (?), HLIT (A), HSY (A), HYSL (A), INFA (A), IR (?), IGT (B), ISRG (A), LEG (A), MAR (B), KRB (?), MCD (B), MEDI (B), MRK (?), NFLX (A), NE (?), NOK (?), NWAC (B), NVS (?), NUE (?), OI (?), ODP (B), OMX (?), PNC (?), DGX (B), RHI (A), ROH (B), RCL (B), SNDK (A), SAP (?), SGP (B), SFA (A), SHW (B), SWIR (A), SIMG (A), SSTI (A), SLM (B), SDS (A), SYNA (A), TPX (A), TSRA (A), TXT (B), TQNT (A), UCBH (A), UNP (?), UPS (B), VLO (?), VTSS (A), WDC (A), WY (?), WHR (06:00 am ET), XRX (B), XLNX (A), YELL (A), ZION (A)

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.