Day Trading with Hary Boxer

The stock market indices closed out the week on a very sour note as the early rally from the get-go faded. They consolidated late morning, began to rollover during the noon hour, and acerbated the sell-off sharply in the afternoon. The range was 2701.91 on the Nasdaq 100 at the high, but down to 2654.97, a reversal of more than 50 points.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 139.46 at 13,093.16, taking back nearly all of yesterday’s gains, and closing nearly 200 points off its high. The S&P 500 was down 13.39 at 1414.20, reaching as high as 1434 earlier in the day, and 20 points off the low. The Nasdaq 100 closed down 37.93 at 3124.56, led by Apple Inc. (AAPL), which was down 19.74 to 576.80, a new 4-month low.

Advance-declines were 21 to 9 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 1/2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was nearly 3 to 1 negative on New York, with total volume of 765 million shares. Nasdaq traded over 1.8 billion and had a 3 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly lower. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) was down 3.72 to 193.43, Goldman Sachs (GS) lost 1.60 to 123.25, First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) gave back 2.21 to 22.54, Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) lost 1.45 to 36.27, and Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) dropped 1.13 to 28.15.

Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) was down 4.09 to 57.37, and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX) lost 4.00 to 76.33.

There were also some winners on our board today. Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. (BGFV) had a big day today, up 3.10 to 12.02, or 35%, on 2 million shares, a 22,000 increase in normal volume. Assisted Living Concepts Inc. (ALC) gained 1.63 to 9.64, or 20%. Enzo Biochem Inc. (ENZ) advanced 48 cents to 2.78, or 21%, on 3 million shares. TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) jumped 5.71 to 35.12, or 19 1/2%, on 12.6 million shares, on earnings.

Tutor Perini Corporation (TPC) was up 1.88 to 12.09, or 18%, on 1.3 million shares. Dendreon Corp (DNDN) popped 62 cents to 4.47, or 16%, on 29 million shares. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (CTB) gained 2.70 to 22.85, or 13%, on 6 million shares.

Other gainers of note on our board today included U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (SLCA), up 1.38 to 14.25, Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) up 4.22 to 50.84, and ManTech International Corporation (MANT) up 2.10 to 25.63.

Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN) was the big winner of the day, though, up 48.64 to 634.74, and saved the day for Nasdaq 100 today, especially with Apple down nearly 20 points.

In addition, the ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) was up 3.68 to 49.24.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early, and then down the rest of the day, closing near the session lows going away.

It was a lousy way to end the week on such a negative note as the overall patterns are still in major down channels, and have been, particularly on Nasdaq 100, since they reached their peak in late Sept. So we’re in a 6-week declining phase now, having the NDX dropping from nearly 2880 down to 2640, that’s 240 points. Then the rally this week, and today’s pullback, took back a big chunk of those gains, more than a .168 Fibonacci retracement.

We’ll see how it goes on Monday.

Good Trading!

Harry