Leaders Index 1-20-16

It was a wild ride today. The market opened lower and sold off hard. At the worst of the session all the major averages were off by more than three percent. About half way through the day the major averages bottomed out and and started to rally. All the major averages finished in the upper half of their intraday trading ranges. The Compq was in positive territory but couldn’t hold it and closed down .12% on the day. The SPX closed 1.17% lower. Volume was much higher across he board, showing that large institutional players were active today. Leading stocks, after large early losses, recovered also with the leaders index closing fractionally higher on the session with a .04% gain. It closed in the upper half of it’s intraday range and the relative strength line of the index has turned up in the last couple of days. The market has sold off hard since the beginning of the year and has been unable to stage even a weak rally. The kind of reversal we saw today can sometimes lead to a short term rally. As of this writing the futures markets were showing solid gains so we will have to see if the market can build on today’s late action. Even if it does it would likely present more of an opportunity to put on some short positions than to go long. The overall picture still looks bleak. Jerry