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Market Creeps Higher but Remains Very Choppy
By Toni Hansen | Published  04/26/2005 | Futures , Stocks | Unrated
Market Creeps Higher but Remains Very Choppy

 

Good day!  The week got off to a rough start as the market gapped higher into the open to kick off the week but quickly ran into a great deal of resistance from the upper end of last week's trading range. The early afternoon highs from Friday stalled the bulls for a bit initially and threw the market into a narrow range along those highs for the first 30 minutes or so of the day. Even though we got a breakout higher around 10:00 ET, the move didn't last long and the general overhead resistance zone still managed to hold with the NASDAQ stalling at Friday's highs and falling into a longer range going into noon

 

The range forming heading into mid-day narrowed significantly with the 5 minute 20 sma serving as support in the NASDAQ. As a result, I was looking for an upside resolution heading into noon. The main concern was, due to the gap and then continued rally, that the base might not be enough of a correction to continue the upside very strongly. As you can see, that ended up being true when prior highs on the morning held and pulled the market back under the 5 minute 20 sma going into the early afternoon. This retracement brought the market all the way back to prior 5 minute lows by the time the 13:00 ET reversal period hit, but it wasn't a strong enough selloff to lead to the same type of drop we saw on Friday afternoon.

While it's rare to get two days like Friday in a row, the pace on the moves intraday were overall more bearish on Monday afternoon. We saw a couple of bear flags into 15:00 ET, but the first was very choppy due to a flush on the 2 min before setting up and dropping into 14:00 ET. This continued with a slower upside move just prior to the last hour of the day that led to another drop into 15:15 ET. This took the NASDAQ into morning lows and the SP500 into its 5 minute 200 sma support. While a reaction to this support level is normal, I didn't expect quite as strong of a pivot as we saw. The market managed to break back over the 5 minute 20 sma to come back into the prior breakdown zone and 5 minute highs going into the close.

AET, WLT, YELL and UVN are still of interest for shorts as the week progresses. I am removing PETC since I wanted it to go on Monday. So far PENN and TIVO are doing well as longs. ASKJ and AAP also remain of interest.  For longs, I'll be watching PENN and TIVO on Monday and ASKJ and AAP over the next couple of weeks.

Economic Reports and Events
Apr 26: Consumer Confidence for Apr (10:00 am), New Home Sales for Mar (10:00 am)
Apr 27: Durable Orders for Mar (8:30 am)
Apr 28: Chain Deflator-Adv. For Q1 (8:30 am), GDP-Adv. For Q1 (8:30 am), Initial Claims 04/23 (8:30 am), Help-Wanted Index for Mar (10:00 am)
Apr 29: Employment Cost Index for Q1 (8:30 am), Personal Income for Mar (8:30 am), Personal Spending for Mar (8:30 am), Mich. Sentiment-Rev. for Apr (9:45 am), Chicago PMI for Apr (10:00 am)
May 02: Construction Spending for Mar (10:00 am), ISM Index for Apr (10:00 am)
May 03: Factory Orders for Mar (10:00 am), Auto Sales for Apr (12:00 am), Truck Sales for Apr (12:00 am), FOMC policy announcement (2:15 pm)

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 26: ABGX (A), ACE (A), AAI (B), AKS (B), AW (?), AXP (?), AGP (A), ABI (B), ASN (B), ATML (A), AUO (B), BJS (B), BOW (B), BP (02:00 am ET), EAT (B), BC (B), CHRW (?), COH (B), CVG (?), GLW (A), CFC (B), CK (B), ESV (B), EQR (B), ESRX (A), FNF (B), FPL (B), TV (A), HRS (A), HMA (?), INSP (A), LLL (B), LVLT (?), LXK (B), LMT (?), MSO (B), MHS (B), MNST (B), NVTL (A), OXY (?), PENN (B), PNR (B), PDG (?), PPP (?), RFMD (A), ROK (B), SLE (B), SLB (B), SNWL (?), SO (B), SNV (?), TMX (A), MHP (B), TSM (?), UST (?), VRTX (A), VFC (?), VIGN (B), WAT (B), WBSN (A), WWY (?), XL (A)
Apr 27: APD (B), AKAM (A), AGN (?), AHC (B), AMKR (A), BUD (?), ARRS (A), ASKJ (?), BHI (B), BDX (B), CDN (?), CTX (A), CHIR (A), CRUS (A), CTSH (?), CL (?), CYH (A), COP (B), CEG (B), CORI (A), COCO (B), DO (B), DRIV (A), DRE (A), ECA (?), ETS (A), EOG (B), EOP (A), ERES (A), GRMN (B), GMR (A), GRP (B), HP (B), HMT (B), ISSX (A), ISIL (A), JDSU (A), JP (A), KCI (B), KOMG (A), LAB (B), LPNT (A), LPX (B), LSI (A), MCHP (A), MUR (A), NBR (A), NEM (?), NSC (?), ONNN (A), OKE (A), OPWV (?), PMTC (B), PD (B), PCLE (A), PLUG (B), PX (B), PHM (A), STR (A), COL (B), RSAS (A), SANM (A), SEBL (A), SKM (B), SWKS (A), SOHU (A), SBUX (?), STN (?), SPRT (A), TIN (B), BA (B), TMO (B), TDW (B), UPL (?), UMC (B), UHS (?), VAR (A), VZ (B), VC (B), WLP (06:00 am ET), WON (A), XEL (B)

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.