Good morning! Despite strong results from Google Inc. (GOOG) on Friday, the pattern we had begun to examine heading into Thursday morning reached fruition before the weekend commenced. Three waves of buying, followed by a somewhat longer correction on the 30 minutes charts left the market very extended on the upside and susceptible to selling. While the likes of GOOG, SWIR, TZOO, TXN, and MMM performed magnificently on Friday and the oil sectors continued to make new highs, they were not enough to keep the overall market afloat.

After gapping higher into the open, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 were unable to break through the prior day's highs and began to sell off immediately. The first wave merely closed the gap in the Nasdaq, stalling into the 9:45 ET reversal period and 5 minute 20 sma support. The Dow Jones Ind. Average and S&P 500 both retested intraday highs, but the momentum of the selling kept them from breaking through. The Nasdaq did not even bother to try, hugging lows into the 10:15 ET reversal period and falling to new intraday lows going into 10:30 ET.

On this second small intraday decline the market found itself faced with a great deal of support on the larger intraday time frames. The Nasdaq had run into Thursday's lows for price support, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones hit their 15 minute 20 sma support levels. They all showed very little reaction to them and the Nasdaq even slipped to Wednesday's lows before falling flat into mid-afternoon.
The S&P 500 and Dow hugged their moving average support as the Nasdaq crept up into its own 15 minute 20 sma as resistance ahead of the 14:00 ET reversal period. Volume dropped to next-to-nothing, indicating a lack of participation on the correction off lows from most of the bulls. It provided the fuel necessary for a strong late day breakdown and the 14:00 ET reversal period held true to its bias as the perfect time to offer such a move.

Volume increased dramatically as the selling continued unabated until shortly after 15:00 ET. By this time, the pace had begun to slow and the market rounded off as the S&P 500 came into Thursday's lows. This helped create a stronger bounce into the last half hour of the day than we would have seen had the pace remained sharp into the support. The Dow ($INDU) even managed to post a gain on the day of 4.56 points and the S&P 500 ($SPX) was little worse for the wear, losing a mere 0.18 of a point. The Nasdaq ($COMPX) suffered the most from the late day decline, ending down 19.69 points at 2,342.86, but still holding onto a gain for the week of 0.7%.
As we head into the new week, most of the strongest movers will be those affected by earnings news. CAT, XRX, SUNW, and AXP report on Monday with AMZN, ACE, DD, X, VLO, LU and LVLT among some of the top names due out Tuesday. Later in the week several key economic reports can also be expected to have an impact. The consumer confidence report is due out Tuesday with durable goods orders Wednesday and the most recent jobs data into the end of the week.
While the market continues to move higher this year, it has not been smooth sailing. The Dow has had the easiest time, forming a series of bull flags on the daily charts, but the S&P 500 and particularly the Nasdaq have seen a lot more choppy action, which seems likely to continue into this week. We will probably see fewer daily and weekly pattern setups in the first half of the week as compared to last Monday and Tuesday, but with earnings season now underway there will continue to be a number of momentum plays available intraday.
Economic Reports and Events
Apr 24: -
Apr 25: Consumer Confidence for Apr (10:00 AM), Existing Home Sales for Mar (10:00 am)
Apr 26: Durable Orders for Mar (8:30 am), New Home Sales for Mar (10:00 am), Crude Inventories 04/21 (10:30 am), Fedââ,¬â"¢s Beige Book (14:00 pm)
Apr 27: Initial Claims 04/22 (8:30 am), Help-Wanted Index for Mar (10:00 am)
Apr 28: Chain Deflator-Adv. For Q1 (8:30 am), Employment Cost Index for Q1 (8:30 am), GDP-ADV. for Q1 (8:30 am), Mich Sentiment-Rev. for Apr (9:50 am), Chicago PMI for Apr (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 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 24: ACL (A), ACF (A), AMTD (B), ANAD (?), ATHR (4:00 pm ET), AXP (?), BEAV (B), CAT (?), CHKP (B), CB (A), CNET (A), CNF (A), FDG (?), GOL (A), HAS (B), KMB (B), LNCR (A), MSPD (?), NFLX (A), NBIX (A), NVS (B), NTRI (A), OMM (A), PTV (A), PCL (A), RCII (A), ROH (B), SVVS (A), SLAB (B), SWKS (A), UDR (A), VTSS (A), BER (A), WCN (A), WFT (B), XRX (B), YUM (A), ZL (?), ZRAN (A)
Apr 25: ACE (A), AKS (B), AMZN (4:00 pm ET), AMP (A), ASN (B), T (B), ATML (4:05 pm ET), BJS (B), BXP (A), BYD (?), BP (?), EAT (B), BMHC (B), BNI (B), CHRW (A), CNC (B), CKFR (A), CME (B), GLW (A), DV (A), DBD (B), DD (B), ENWV (A), ENR (B), ESV (?), ENTU (A), EXTR (A), FISV (?), FRX (B), HOLX (?), IMCL (?), NDE (B), IM (A), IMCL (?), ISSX (A), JCOM (A), JEC (?), JBLU (?), KIM (B), LLL (B), LH (B), LAB (B), LSCC (A), LCAV (B), LXK (B), LMT (B), LU (B), LVLT (?), MTW (A), MHP (B), MSO (B), MVK (A), MTH (A), CRL (A), MCHP (A), MIL (A), MUR (?), NOC (B), OXY (B), PCAR (?), PNRA (?), PCZ (?), PPP (?), PWER (A), RFMD (?), SANM (?), SCSS (A), SEPR (B), SIRF (A), SII (B), SGTL (4:05 pm ET), SSCC (B), SO (B), STM (A), SNV (?), TE (A), CAKE (A), SSP (B), MHP (B), SWK (A), TRAD (?), TRI (A), TQNT (A), X (?), VLO (?), VAR (A), VRTX (A), VFC (?), VMC (A), WDR (B), WWY (?), XL (A)
Apr 26: ABY (?), AEM (A), APD (B), AKAM (A), ALGN (B), ATI (B), ABK (B), DOX (?), AHC (B), AHM (?), ABC (B), AMKR (A), AMLN (?), APPB (A), AMCC (A), ARBA (A), ARRS (A), ASH (08:00 pm ET), AV (A), BHI (B), BDX (B), BIIB (B), BCGI (A), CDNS (A), CD (4:00 pm ET), CTX (A), CRUS (A), CDSS (A), CL (?), CYH (A), COP (?), CCI (A), CYTC (A), DENN (A), DO (?), DRE (A), ECA (?), ESLR (B), EXC (B), ESRX (A), FNF (A), FHRX (A), FE (B), FORM (A), HMC (?), HMT (B), IFX (?), INSP (A), KOMG (A), LEA (B), LSS (?), LPX (?), LSI (A), FLSH (B), HCR (B), MXIM (A), MXO (A), WFR (?), MENT (?), MNST (B), MRVC (A), NOV (B), NETL (A), NYB (?), NSC (B), NCX (?), ODP (?), PANC (A), PMTC (B), PEP (B), PTP (A), PYX (A), POT (?), PX (B), PLD (B), PHM (A), STR (A), RBAK (4:45 pm ET), COL (B), RDC (B), SCUR (A), SIMG (A), SOHU (?), SNWL (B), S (?), STTS (A), TASR (?), BNK (B), BA (B), FAF (B), TMO (B), TRID (A), WLP (06:00 am ET), WY (B), XLNX (5:00 pm ET), ZMH (A)
Apr 27: ARDI (A), ABB (12:00 am ET), EYE (B), AET (06:00 am ET), AAI (?), ALA (?), AYE (A), ALTR (A), APC (?), ANDW (?), APA (?), BZH (B), BEBE (?), BDK (B), BOW (B), BC (B), BG (B), CAH (B), CLS (A), CTL (B), CRDN (?), CCE (B), COGT (A), CMCSA (B), BVN (?), CNXT (?), CNX (B), CAM (?), CFC (B), DCX (?), DDR (A9, DRIV (A), DTAS (4:00 pm ET), DOV (A), EMN (A), ELX (?), FLEX (?), BEN (B), GTW (?), GGC (A), GSK (?), HC (?), HLIT (A), HET (?), HIG (?), IDNX (?), IKN (?), ILOG (10:00 am ET), IRF (?), ISRG (A), IVGN (?), JNS (?), K (B), KLAC (A), KLIC (B), LPNT (A), LIZ (B), LYO (B), MRO (?), MEE (A), MET (A), MGM (B), MSCC (A), MSFT (A), MLNM (B), MRH (A), MPS (?), NENG (B), NWL (B), NFX (?), NXY (B), NIHD (?), OI (?), OLN (A), OCR (B), ONNN (A), QLTI (B), RACK (A), RTN (B), ROK (B), R (B), SSTI (A), SPF (A), HOT (B), SPN (?), TNE (B), DOW (B), UHS (?), VSEA (A), WEBX (A), WEBM (A), WEN (?), WDC (A), XEL (?)
Apr 28: AXL (?), ARM (B), ATW (?), ADP (B), AVP (?), CCJ (?), COCO (?), CVH (?), CMI (B), GERN (B), TX (?)
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.