Leaders Index 2-19-14

The market was weak most of the session. After opening lower it tried to rally but couldn’t hold it after the Fed minutes came out. A late decline caused all the major averages to finish at their lows of the day. The COMPQ led the way down with a loss of .82% while the SPY fell .65%. Volume was higher across the board so there was distribution on all the major averages. Leading stocks were hit harder than the overall market with the leaders index declining 1.51% on higher and slightly above average volume. This was basically the entire gain from yesterday and was a distribution day. Even with today’s decline there isn’t any real damage to either the leaders or the major averages. Both are near their highs and above all the important moving averages. There is a lot of room between the leaders index and it’s 9dma. We are very late in the current cyclical bull market and the easy money is made in the first two years. There is still money to be made in late cycle rallies, but it is the hard money. The rally is intact and the long side is still the place to be, but it is a good idea to keep an eye on the exits. Jerry