Day Trading with Hary Boxer

The stock market indices had a topsy-turvy day today. The Nasdaq 100 opened strong and ran up, although the S&P 500 did not follow through. The S&P 500 opened lower and couldn’t rally back, even to the opening price, and then rolled over sharply with both indices plunging. The NDX dropped from 2795 down to 2773 inside of a couple hours, and the S&P 500 dropped from 1419 down to 1410 very quickly. They bounced mid-day, and then rolled over sharply again to reach 2767 NDX and 1404 S&P 500, before a late 3-wave rally brought the NDX back about 15 points and the S&P 500 about 9 points.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 64.94 at 13,199.55, the S&P 500 down 5.66 to 1413.38, and the Nasdaq 100 down 1.64 at 2782.78, about 15 points off its low. That was mostly due to Apple Inc. (AAPL) today, up 10.69 to 629.32, on nearly 30 million shares traded.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but there were quite a few gainers. Solazyme, Inc. (SZYM) jumped 1.72 to 16.03, or 12%, on 2.5 million shares. Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (QCOR) rallied 1.86 to 40.01, Rackspace Hosting, Inc (RAX) gained 1.50 to 58.94, and Cobalt International Energy (CIE), one of our favorites, on take-over rumors, rose 1.36 to 31.36.

Other gainers of note included the largest percentage gainer, SmartHeat Inc. (HEAT), up 2.51 to 5.25, or 91.6%, on 2.5 million shares, and traded as high as 6.00 today. Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) jumped 4.25 to 25.93, or 19.6%, and reached as high as 26.25 today. Yongye International, Inc. (YONG) advanced 41 cents to 3.52, or 13%, on nearly 3 million shares. Annie's, Inc. (BNNY) exploded 4.10 to 38.75, or 11.8%, on 1.4 million shares.

Arabian American Development Company (ARSD) rose 89 cents to 10.87, SXC Health Solutions (SXCI) 4.77 to 78.87, and Medivation, Inc. (MDVN), one of the stocks we traded today, 5.00 to 80.74. Select Comfort Corporation (SCSS) climbed 1.07 to 33.57, Express Scripts Inc. (ESRX) 2.17 to 57.67, and Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) 1.43 to 38.01.

On the downside, low-priced Mitek Systems, Inc. (MITK) got slammed for 1.03 to 8.34, on 6.5 million, and reached as low as 7.69, and as high as 8.74 today. Goldman Sachs (GS) lost 2.19 to 122.71, and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) was down 1.01 to 112.95.

The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) dropped 1.25 to 110.35, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) gave back 1.16 to 63.45.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices stair-stepped their way lower today, and then snapped back late in the session to close off the lows, but down on the session.

Good Trading!

Harry