Indices Close Higher Despite Afternoon Slide by H

Indices Close Higher Despite Afternoon Slide

by Harry Boxer, Tue December 11th 2012

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The stock market indices had an up day today. It was a sharp one early on, but the afternoon slide took them way back off the highs, although they did bounce back in the last 30-40 minutes to firm up the gains.

The day started out with big gaps up, and then they ran through key resistance short-term and eventually got up late morning to very important overhead resistance going back two months now on the Nasdaq 100 at 2700. The S&P 500 resistance around the 1434 area was also tested. They then moved for a couple hours in a coiling-type consolidation that looked bullish. When Harry Reid indicated that the fiscal cliff was not going to be resolved by Christmas, the indices then rolled over hard, the NDX dropping 19 points and the S&P 500 dropping about 8 points in that same period of time. In the last 30-40 minutes they bounced back to test resistance and closed firm.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 78.48 at 13,248.36, about 58 points off the high, 78 points off the low. The S&P 500 was up 9.29 at 1417.84, 7 points off the high and 9 points off the low. The Nasdaq 100 was up 34.50 at 2682.07, 14 points off the high and 18 points off the low.

Advance-declines were a little better than 2 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 2 1/2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 to 1 positive on New York, with total volume of 570 million shares. Nasdaq traded over 1.83 billion and had a 14 to 4 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly gainers. Leading the way to the upside, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 11.57 to 541.39, and reached as high as 549.56. Amazon Inc. (AMZN) jumped 2.92 to 250.69, and Google Inc. (GOOG) was up 11.46 to 696.88.

Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) on short-covering was up 4.45 to 63.25, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX) up 3.04 to 80.24, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) 1.58 to 194.20, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) 1.85 to 118.86, and Cree, Inc. (CREE) 1.17 to 34.69.

The Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) jumped 1.79 to 60.58, and the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) gained 1.28 to 112.46.

There were some large-percent gainers on our board today. Low-priced BG Medicine, Inc. (BGMD), which we traded today, popped 2.07 to 3.40, or 155%, on 9.2 million shares, a 7500% increase in volume. Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACUR), which we also traded, snapped back another 1.04 to 3.49, or 43%, on 10 million shares, an 8800% increase in volume.

Many of the junior biotech stocks that we follow had a big day today. Low-priced GTX Inc. (GTXI) gained 59 cents to 4.50, or 15%. Celsion Corp. (CLSN) advanced 99 cents to 8.27, or 13.6%, on 3.9 million shares. Oncothyreon Inc (ONTY) climbed 57 cents to 4.59, or 14%, on 1.8 million shares. Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (SNTA) ran 85 cents to 8.80, or 11%. Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. (RPTP) thrust 65 cents to 5.78, or 13%.

Solazyme, Inc. (SZYM) bounced 78 cents to 8.27, or 10%, on 1.5 million shares, and Audience, Inc. (ADNC) gained 83 cents to 9.55, or 10%.

Other gainers of note included WebMD Health Corp. (WBMD) was up 1.60 to 15.45, Tronox Incorporated (TROX) 1.15 to 16.04, NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI) 1.22 to 25.04, NetSuite Inc. (N) 3.35 to 63.38, Homeowners Choice, Inc. (HCI) 1.01 to 20.24, Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) 1.65 to 38.65, Fusion-io, Inc. (FIO) 1.20 to 23.10, and Cirrus Logic Inc. (CRUS) 1.65 to 29.28.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up and ran hard in the morning, a very, very strong rally, indeed. They pulled back, and then backed and filled in wedge patterns, but broke down hard in the afternoon, only to snap back late in the session to salvage a good part of the gains.

It was not a bad day, but we have overhead, key resistance at 2700 NDX and 1434 S&P 500 to be aware of and to be watching over the next few days.

Good Trading!

Harry