Leaders Index 2-16-17

The market took a break today after its advance of the last week or so. The major averages were lower early but bottomed out a couple of hours into trading and spent the rest of the session working their way higher. They finished with very small losses. The COMPQ was lower by .08% while the SPX declined only .09%. The New York averages closed high in their intraday trading ranges while the Nasd averages finished about in the middle of their trading ranges. Volume was lower on the Nasd and very close on the New York, so different data feeds could have different results. Either way the decline would be too small to generate a fresh distribution day. Leading stocks generally performed a little better than the overall market with the leaders index higher by .13%. The index again tagged its 17dma at the lows and closed above this moving average and the shorter term 9dma. Volume was slightly higher than yesterday and below average. The index continues to trade in a pretty constructive consolidation after its recent advance. The action of the market today was positive. After six or seven straight days of advance the fact that the major averages could hold their own as well as they did today shows strength. A consolidation would be expected and actually encouraging so the major averages can let their important moving averages catch up. The market is acting like it wants to go higher. Jerry