Leaders Index 2-4-16

It was another up and down session for the market today. After opening higher the major averages sold off and then bounced around unchanged the rest of the day. They closed marginally higher, but if the trading day was a half hour longer or shorter they might have closed lower. The COMPQ gained .12% while the SPX rallied .15%. Both closed in about the middle of their intraday trading ranges. Volume was mixed, lower on the Nasd and slightly higher on the New York. Leading stocks were mixed as well. The leaders index gained .87% on the session, but the red candle shows that it closed below it’s opening price. The index again tagged a confluence of it’s important 17 and 50 day moving averages. It also finished above it’s short term 9dma and in the upper half of it’s trading range. Volume on the index was a bit lower than yesterday but was still well above average. The IBD 50 closed lower on the day and again the Marketsmith 250 showed weak numbers. There were 43 stocks up on volume and 226 stocks down on volume, not encouraging numbers. It is very difficult to make any progress in this environment. There are virtually no stocks acting well and for every small gain there are probably two or three small losses. I have always said that you should be in the market when it is easy to make money. It isn’t easy now. Jerry