Leaders Index 6-20-14

The market had a pretty quiet session on Friday with the major averages trading in a tight range. They finished little changed on the day with the COMPQ up .20% while the SPY climbed by .17%. Both closed at or very near the top of their intraday ranges. This is a pattern that has been in effect for the last six trading sessions. The SPY has been higher six days in a row and has closed at the top of it’s intraday range each day. The COMPQ has been up five of the last six sessions and even on the down day it closed at the top of it’s intraday range. This shows a lot of support among big players and is positive for the rally. Volume was much higher on the day as would be expected on an expiration day, so this has to be taken into account. Leading stocks had a generally good session as well with new breakouts continuing to show up in stocks like KS and AKRX. The leaders index had a tough session, dropping 1.76% on much higher volume. This was due mostly to two stocks,AMKR and EMES getting hit very hard on heavy volume. Even with these components of the index having large declines the index held it’s critical 17dma and closed just below it’s 9dma. I usually don’t swap out components of the index during a rally but these are large declines that do distort the index so I may make a couple of changes tomorrow. Quality growth stocks and the major averages are acting well and in a late cycle rally you want all the warning of a top that you can get. Overall the rally is looking good and it appears that higher prices are ahead. Jerry