Leaders Index 4-19-16

The market had an up and down session today. The major averages opened higher and it looked like they would continue higher. There was a bit of an intraday reversal but they recovered before the finish to close mixed. Thee New York averages closed higher while the Nasd averages declined. The SPX finished with a gain of .31% and closed high in it’s intraday trading range while the COMPQ fell .40% and finished near the bottom of it’s trading range. Much of this decline was caused by tech stocks after the poor market reaction to IBM’s earnings report. Volume was higher across the board. This combined with the decline in the Nasd averages produced distribution on all these averages. Leading stocks were higher today about in line with the New York averages as the leaders index rose .32% on higher but still below average volume. The index closed in the upper half of it’s intraday range and made a new closing high today. It isn’t yet a clear break above the consolidation range it has been in for three weeks. The relative strength line of the index is sitting right on it’s important 50dma. The major averages continue to drift higher on fairly light volume while quality growth stocks lag. There is a lot of liquidity out there and some of it is clearly finding it’s way into the stock market. All the major averages, particularly the New York ones, are very close to their all time highs. We are at a bit of a cross roads here. If the major averages break into new highs the entire bear market case I have been discussing since last summer is probably out the window. If they are turned back at the old highs we will likely see them sell off. Jerry