Day Trading with Hary Boxer

The stock market indices had a very rough session. Futures were up before the opening, and the indices did firm a few minutes into the opening, but then rolled over and were down steadily and sharply all session in 45-degree-angle, declining channels. At the end of the day, the indices rolled over after a late-afternoon rally attempt and consolidation failed. They then rolled over hard, especially the S&P 500, into the close, which dropped 5 points in the last 5 minutes.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 121.41 at 12,811.32. The S&P 500 was down 17.02 at 1377.51, at the exact low for the day and 24 points off its high. The Nasdaq 100 closed down 40.12 to 2572.57, just a few cents off its low.

It was another nasty day on Wall Street, following up with yesterday’s post-election decline.

Advance-declines were 22 to 8 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 5 to 1 negative on New York, with total volume of 745 million shares. Nasdaq traded over 1.4 billion and had a 7 to 2 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was much lower. Leading the way, Apple Inc. (AAPL) got creamed for 20.25 to 537.75, just a couple points off the low, and the lowest level in six months and 180 points off its high, or about a 25% drop. Google Inc. (GOOG) was down 14.83 to 652.29. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was down 4.71 to 227.35, which didn’t help matters much either.

Those stocks were very material in leading the market lower today.

So market generals really got hammered today and took the rest of the indices down with them.

Goldman Sachs Group (GS) was down 2.71 to 115.27, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) down 1.06 to 190.10, and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) 1.71 to 75.97, all just pennies off their low. So this was just one disaster after another.

Stocks on the upside included VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC), up 2.80 to 36.41, on positive court ruling, and Vringo, Inc. (VRNG) up 26 cents to 3.50, on 7 million shares.

Other gainers of note included InterMune Inc. (ITMN), up 1.36 to 9.52, or 17%, on 6 million shares, and trading as high as 9.87 earlier in the day. Perion Network Ltd (PERI) jumped 1.22 to 9.02, or 16%. Sapient Corp. (SAPE) gained 1.54 to 11.44, or 16%, on 3.8mils. EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (EZCH), which we traded today, was up 4.44 to 34.80, or 15%, on 3 million shares. Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc. (RSTI) jumped 2.32 to 20.25, or 13%.

In addition, Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (BLMN), the new IPO for Outback Steak Houses, was up 1.73 to 15.46, or 13%, on 1.6 million shares after an earnings report. Nxstage Medical, Inc. (NXTM) gained 1.12 to 11.73, or 11%, on 1.1 million shares.

Bottomline Technologies (de), Inc. (EPAY) was up 1.89 to 24.57, Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (SLXP) up 2.84 to 40.81, on earnings, Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. (IMH) 1.10 to 16.35, Plexus Corp. (PLXS) 1.37 to 21.88, and 3D Systems Corp. (DDD) 2.68 to 46.02.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up for a brief period in the morning, rolled over in a beautiful, parallel, down channel all session on both indices, only to be interrupted a couple times by rally attempts, which failed at declining moving averages and overhead resistance. Simply, we’ve come down hard and fast and is now on the Nasdaq 100 near the bottom of a major declining channel and getting oversold.

I’m not sure if we’re oversold yet, but another day or two of this, and we’ll be out of power. Expect some kind of rally. We are at a cycle low at this point, projected to be Nov 9, which is tomorrow.

We’ll see how it goes.

Good Trading!

Harry