Leaders Index 4-17-17

The market opened strong today and rallied for the rest of the session. The major averages had strong gains with the COMPQ rallying .89% and the SPX higher by .86%. Late strength saw all the major averages finish at their intraday trading highs, generally a good sign. The problem was volume. It was lower across the board and well below average. This is not what you want to see on a rally after a decline. Leading stocks were higher as well and pretty much mirrored the overall market. The leaders index was higher by 1.06% and it closed in the upper half of its intraday trading. The index tagged its 50dma and held it but was not able to too overcome its now declining 9dma. Volume on the index was very light and well below Thursday’s level. After a decline you want to watch the quality of the bounce. Today’s action was strong on a price basis, but was lacking in volume. This shows that there was not much buying interest from large institutional players. The fact that volume was lower than on the day before a three day holiday weekend is troubling. The Nasd averages regained their 50dma’s but the New York averages are still below this now important resistance level. The major averages must rally with some real conviction or we will likely see lower prices. Jerry