Day Trading with Hary Boxer

The stock market indices suffered early losses, and at one point late in the afternoon, after they bounced and started to get through the highs, they sold off very sharply in a 5-wave decline. By late afternoon, with an hour to go, they were at their session lows below 2780 NDX and 1440 S&P 500. But when no further selling emerged and they held last week’s lows, they rallied sharply into the close.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 32.75 at 13,382.36, about 55 points off the low. The S&P 500 was up 1.26 at 1445.75, about 6 points off the low. The Nasdaq 100 was up 5.01 at 2799.29, 20 points off the low.

Advance-declines were positive by 220 issues on the New York Stock Exchange, and positive by 128 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was nearly flat on New York, with total volume of a light 575 million shares. Nasdaq traded over 1.5 billion, and had a 2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was fractionally mixed but there were several point-plus gainers. Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 1.92 to 661.31, 11 points off the low. Google Inc. (GOOG) was down 4.79 to 756.99, 6 1/2 points off the low. Amazon Inc. (AMZN) was also down, giving back 1.41 to 250.60.

Other point-plus gainers on our board included SolarWinds, Inc. (SWI), up 1.05 to 55.57, along with Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX), up 1.24 to 86.51, and Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC), up 1.75 to 67.31.

There were quite a few percent gainers on our board today. Leading the way, Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. (IMH) was up 1.89 to 9.70, or 20%, on half a million shares, which is a lot for this stock. MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (PCS) jumped 2.05 to 13.57, on takeover rumors. Leap Wireless International Inc. (LEAP), in sympathy with PCS, gained 59 cents to 7.59, or 8 1/2%, on 10.3 million shares. Zoltek Companies Inc. (ZOLT) advanced 63 cents to 8.40, or 8%, on 1.7 million shares. Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (BONT), continuing its advance, was up 78 cents to 11.12.

Among other stocks of note, MYR Group, Inc. (MYRG) was up 1.03 to 21.13. Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd (QIHU) advanced 1.06 to 22.87, Westport Innovations Inc. (WPRT) 1.33 to 29.49, Synaptics Inc. (SYNA) 1.06 to 23.93, Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS) 2.13 to 52.25, Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (ACOR) 1.12 to 26.67, United Therapeutics Corporation (UTHR) 2.28 to 58.91, and Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) 2.78 to 76.35.

On the downside, the only point-plus losers was ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (UVXY), down 1.33 to 30.22, and Patrick Industries Inc. (PATK), which, although it ran up to new rally high at 19.72, reversed sharply by 3.00, and closed down 1.50 to 16.99. Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (SRPT) also gave back a chunk, down 1.54 to 14.99 in a big reversal.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices opened with a little bit of a surge at the opening, backed off to support, and rallied back up again. They couldn’t take out the highs, and rolled over in a 5-wave decline late in the day when the indices formed falling wedges, held support, and then snapped back sharply into the close to close with the NDX and S&P 500 slightly in the plus column.

Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.

Good Trading!

Harry