Tue May 26th 2009
Strong Consumer Confidence Index Boosts Stocksby Harry Boxer,
www.TheTechTrader.comThe indices had a negative start to the week, but that abruptly turned around with a surprisingly strong consumer confidence index reading that squeezed the shorts and exploded the indices. The market ran sharply higher early on, and then settled into a strong rising channel-type pattern that lasted until mid-afternoon.
They finally did get about a 2-hour pullback into the last 10-15 minutes, at which point they bounced into the close. Net on the day the Dow was up 196.17 at just over 8473, the S&P 500 up 23.33 to 910.33, and the Nasdaq 100 up 49.44 at 1412.61. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) advanced 9.31, nearly 3 1/2 percent, at 259.82.
The technicals had a huge advantage of advancers over decliners by more than 5 to 1 on New York and 3 1/2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was better than 5 to 1 positive on New York on lighter total volume of about 1 1/3 billion. Nasdaq traded just over 2 billion and had a 11 to 1 positive volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher and sharply so, with the only point-plus losers being the ultrashort ETFs.
Financials led the way back up, with Goldman Sachs (GS) up 5.70 to 142.05, JP Morgan (JPM) up 2.13 to 36.54, Wells Fargo (WFC) up 1.34 to 25.65, and Morgan Stanley (MS) up 79 cents to 29.02. But, Bank of America (BAC) lost ground today, down 9 cents to 10.98. Hartford Financial Services (HIG) also lost 23 cents to 14.79.
Among other stocks, Apple (AAPL) had a terrific day, up 8.28 at 130.78. Potash (POT) jumped 2.95 to 117.45, and Mosaic (MOS) gained 1.01 to 56.37 in a strong agriculture/chemical sector.
Former portfolio position and Top 20 member SYNNEX (SNX) gained 1.41 to 25.25, and PALM Inc. (PALM) advanced 1.05 to 11.17.
The stock of the day, however, was MAP Pharmaceuticals (MAPP), which on very positive drug news rose 5.85 to 9, a gain of 185.7% on a massive 5.8 million shares, which is extremely heavy for that stock.
Portfolio position AgFeed Industries (FEED) jumped 1.02 to 6.17, for a gain of 20% today.
DG FastChannel (DGIT) was up 1.10 to 20.49, and Cree Inc. (CREE) 1.19 to 27.77.
Junior solars were strong today, with Canadian Solar (CSIQ) rebounding from an early morning sharp drop to 8.82 to close at 11.03, up 1.02, a big reversal there. Also in that group, Yingli Green Energy (YGE), one of our highlighted stocks this weekend, was up 1.79 to 11.14, a gain of 19%.
Amazon (AMZN) jumped back 2.75 to 78.39, and Cree Inc. (CREE) gained 1.19 to 27.77.
Other stocks of note, Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA) continued its recent strength, closing at a new 18 month high at 13.19, up 64 cents. STEC Inc. (STEC) was up 69 cents 17, to a new all time high.
Portfolio positions: SIGA Technologies (SIGA) was up 22 cents 6.39 Patriot Coal (PCX) gained 14 cents to 8.96 and the PowerShares DB Double Long Oil (DXO) added 7 cents to 3.79.
The iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (EWZ) gained 1.47, and the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) gained 43 cents. The U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) up 41 cents to 34.11.
On the downside, the heavy losers today were the the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA), down 4.09 to 25.24, along with the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS), down 2.52 to 20.21, and the UltraShort Financial ProShares (SKF), down 3.51 to 42.81. The Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) lost 60 cents to close at 4.96 on 285 million.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, a surprisingly strong consumer confidence index took Wall Street by surprise and exploded the indices, and they closed with very sharp gains of 2 1/2 percent on the Dow and more than 3 percent on the Nasdaq 100.
Good trading!
Harry
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