Leaders Index 3-12-21

The market continued its recent action yesterday. It was an overall positive session with the major averages opening lower and then working their way higher for the rest of the day. All the major averages finished at or very near their intraday trading highs, a sign of support. The Nasd averages continued to lag with the COMPQ and the NDX declining .59% and .89% respectively. The SPX was higher by .10%. The greatest strength remained in the small and mid-cap stocks with the RUT and MID rallying .88% and .96%. Volume was lower across the board. It fell 7.96% on the Nasd and 16.66% on the New York. Leading stocks were mixed. Since there was a resumption of the rally called and the current leaders index was lagging badly I created a new leaders index. I have to say that it was very difficult to come up with enough stocks to form a proper index, which is a cautionary sign in itself. The new index has twenty stocks in fifteen different industry groups. Tech stocks are almost nonexistent in this index. The biggest concentrations are in financials and building and construction related stocks, there is even a funeral home. The index was up .90% yesterday and made a new high. Volume was lower and below average and the index closed near the high of its trading range. The market continued its split personality with Nasd and tech stocks lagging and financial and cyclical stocks leading. The New York and many secondary averages made new highs while the Nasd averages remain below their respective 50dma’s. The market seems to want to go higher, at least discounting tech stocks. Without a follow through the risk levels are pretty high, but there is money to be made in the right stocks. Jerry