The market started out with a move up at the get-go but that was about it. They sold off very sharply in the morning, bounced around for several hours mid-day in what looked like bear flags, took those patterns out to the downside, and made new pullback lows with about 40 minutes to go. They then snapped back in what looked like short-covering towards the end of the session, taking back some of the losses.
Net on the day the Dow closed below 11,100 at 11,089.06, down 51.70. The S&P 500 was down more than 10 points and the Nasdaq 100 nearly 14 1/2. The SOX Semiconductor Index was down about 1 1/2 percent, or 7 1/2 points.
Advance-declines were very negative by 3 to 1 on New York and nearly that on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was even worse, about 4 to 1 on both exchanges. More than 1.55 billion was traded on New York and over 2.1 billion on Nasdaq. Very heavy downside volume today on Nasdaq, in particular.
TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed, mostly lower, with some very heavy losers. DXP Enterprises (DXPE), which we had eliminated from our portfolio, dropped 4.34 today, and more than 5 points off its earlier high. Pacific Ethanol (PEIX), which soared to new all-time highs this morning at nearly 34, dropped 5 points before bouncing, still ended down 1.72 on more than 7 1/2 million.
Other notable losses, Vimicro International (VIMC) also had a big reversal. It moved higher this morning to a new all-time high, over 23, and then closed sharply lower, under 20, at 19.71, down 2.41. Xyratex (XRTX) was down 2.27, Fuel Tech (FTEK) dropped 1.80 and Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) 1.60. Broadcom (BRCM) gave back 1.41.
Other losses of note, Evergreen Solar (ESLR) in the alternative energy sector was down 90 cents, Neoware Systems (NWRE) 74 cents, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) 89 cents, Rediff.com India (REDF) 80 cents, and Sify Ltd. (SIFY) 85 cents.
On the plus side, one point-plus gainer, Optelecom-NKF (OPTC), ignored the market today and jumped 1.08. The only other gainers on my board were very fractional gainers, including Sierra Wireless (SWIR), up 33 cents.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, as indicated yesterday the uptrend has been broken, and continued to the downside today, severely testing secondary support around 1700 NDX and the 1284 area on the S&P before bouncing late in the session.
With the indices as oversold as they are, I suspect the market could snap back, and we'll be watching key overhead resistance in the 1718-22 zone on the NDX and the 1295-99 zone on the S&P.
Good trading,
Harry
