Leaders Index 8-13-21

The market closed the week with another pretty quiet session. There were small gains across the board and that was enough for new highs on the New York averages. The major averages opened slightly higher and traded mostly sideways the rest of the session. All the major averages finished in the upper half of their intraday trading ranges. The COMPQ and the NDX were higher by .04% and .32% respectively. The SPX gained .16%. Volume was mixed. It fell 5.18% on the New York and rose 2.40% on the Nasd. Leading stocks continued to weaken with the leaders index falling 2.04% on the day. The index closed in the lower half of its trading range and closed below its 17dma support, now resistance, level. Volume was lower and well below average. The market continued mostly on its recent sideways action yesterday. The leading stocks have been showing some weakness in recent days and the leaders index breaking below its 17dma is a concern. Other indexes of quality growth stocks have also been showing some declines. If the leaders index can’t break back above this important moving average it will be negative for the market. The major averages are still basically in the consolidation pattern with a slight upward bias that they have been in for a few weeks. A break in either direction will likely tell us which way the market will go. For right now the major averages are slowly working their way higher in a choppy fashion, but the trend right now continues to be up. Jerry