Leaders Index 4-15-20

The market sold off today after the gains of the last couple of days, but it was an orderly decline. The major averages opened lower but rallied to close well off their lows. All the major averages finished in the upper half of their intraday trading ranges, a good sign. The Nasd averages again held up the best with the COMPQ and the NDX declining 1.44% and 1.15% respectively. The SPX lost 2.20%. Volume was lower across the board. It fell 7.70% on the New York and 10.97% on the Nasd. This means there was no distribution today on any of the major averages. Leading stocks held up well with the leaders index declining only .24%. The index closed in the upper half of its trading range and volume was lower and well below average. The market opened lower on some weaker than expected economic news and weak earnings reports. The market found support and closed well off the lows and even in the upper half of the trading ranges of the major averages. This shows support as prices fell. The fact that there was lower volume across the board showed that large institutional players were not heavy sellers of stocks today. The NDX held above the 50dma now support level that it overcame yesterday and the COMPQ is sitting right on a confluence of its 50dma and its 200dma. There appears to be a bid under the market as the situation concerning the virus appears to be getting a little better. We have had a nice rally off the lows but this is still a countertrend rally in a bear market. I don’t know how far it will go, but in the very short term it looks like the market wants to go higher. Jerry