Leaders Index 4-28-14

It was a crazy day to say the least. After a strong open, seemingly on take over talk in the drug industry, the major averages got to gains of almost one percent before they sold off hard and went to significant losses. A recovery in the last couple of hours of trading brought the New York averages up to finish in the upper half of their trading ranges. The COMPQ was not as strong and while it closed in the upper half of it’s intraday range it was fractionally lower on the day. The COMPW closed off .03% while the SPY was up .32%. Volume was higher across the board and well above average. Leading stocks had a pretty bad session with the leaders index off by 1.62% on higher and well above average volume. The damage was wide spread and not limited to just a few stocks in the index. For the first time the leaders index closed below it’s critical 50dma by a fair amount. Not holding this moving average is a real sign of weakness and the relative strength line of the index is now below it’s 50dma as well. The fact that quality growth stocks are performing so badly and leading the overall market lower is a sign that lower prices are likely ahead. Jerry