Leaders Index 12-20-19

The market put in another strong performance yesterday. The major averages opened higher and pretty much held on to those gains. The rally was pretty evenly divided with the COMPQ and NDX gaining .42% and .43% respectively while the SPX rallied .49%. All the major averages closed in the upper half of their intraday trading ranges, with the Nasd averages closing near the top. Volume was higher across the board. It was up by 19.50% on the New York and 6.65% on the Nasd. This was partially due to yesterday being an expiration day, but it was still new highs on the major averages on higher volume. Leading stocks were generally higher, but again underperformed the overall market. The leaders index was lower by .80% on the day on extremely high volume. This was caused by large declines on high volume in a couple of components of the index. INMD fell by 6.59% while ARWR dropped 6.19%. There was high volume in quite a number of leaders index components. The index remains above all its short term moving averages. The action of the market remains positive. We had another solid rally yesterday and volume confirmed. You could say that higher volume was caused by yesterday being an expiration day, and there is some truth to that, but it was still new highs on higher volume, positive action. Leading stocks continue to lag the overall market. This is the biggest negative out there. The leaders index has been flat for several weeks as has the FFTY. You would like to see quality growth stocks lead the market higher, but these types of stocks tend to lag late in a cycle. Overall the rally is in good shape and we should continue to see higher prices into year end. The market is getting a little stretched and some sort of a consolidation or even small pull back would not be unexpected, but the overall picture remains upbeat. Jerry