Leaders Index 4-5

The market pretty much treaded water Thursday, partly as it waited for the employment report on Friday. The major averages were mostly unchanged, but the Nasd which is the strongest of the averages rose .40%. The NYA, the weakest of the major averages, broke below it's 50dma. Volume was down across the board. The employment report came in weaker than expected so there will likely be a down opening on Monday. Leading stocks performed better than the overall market as the leaders index rose .63% on lower and about average volume. The index continued to ride it's 17dma, which it has done for the last six days. The index will soon break below this important moving average or rise above it. This will tell us a lot about the direction of the market as the action of leading stocks is an important indicator of future market action. Jerry