Leaders Index 8-7-17

After some tight trading last week the market put in a positive session today. The major averages opened higher and worked their way up the rest of the session, all closing at their intraday trading highs. The Nasd averages and tech in general led today with the COMPQ higher by .51% and the NDX up by .59%. The SOX rallied 1.74%. At the same time the SPX trailed with a gain of .16%. Volume was lower across the board and below average on both exchanges. Leading stocks on the other hand put in a very strong performance with many quality growth stocks having very large gains and making new highs. On Friday a component of the leaders index, AAOI, sold off hard after an earnings report. It fell 34% on the session. This can and does have a large effect on a fairly small index like the leaders index. I took AAOI out of the index but today included charts of the index both with and without AAOI, the differences are striking. Leading stocks clearly had a very strong session as the new index was up by 2.95% on higher volume. It broke out of a consolidation and reached new highs on both a closing and an intraday basis. The relative strength line also made a new high. The index with AAOI broke the important 17dma on Friday and just came back to it today, with a gain of 3.50%. Any way you look at it quality growth stocks had a strong session. The fact that Nasd and tech stocks led today was encouraging. The New York averages made new all-time highs today and leading stocks are acting well. If the Nasd averages can break to new highs also it would be a very encouraging sign. Jerry