Leaders Index 5-20-16

The market had a solid up session yesterday. All the major averages opened higher, and while most of the gains occurred early in the session they held those gains for the rest of the day and finished high in their intraday trading ranges. The COMPQ was strongest with a gain of 1.21% while the SPX rallied .60%. The biggest gains were in the semiconductor stocks with the SOX rallying 3.15% on Friday. Volume was higher on the Nasd. IBD had it lower on the New York, but Esignal clearly showed it higher. IBD still has issues with volume on the major averages. The gains on higher volume were an accumulation day on the major averages. Leading stocks were higher as well with the leaders index rising .32% on lower and below average volume. The index continues to live below all it’s short and intermediate term moving averages. It is hard to call a lot of these stocks leaders any more, but in a decline the chart of the leaders becomes less important than the action of the overall market. I really can’t put together a new index until there is a new rally attempt. If you look at the chart of the IBD 50 it looks pretty ugly as well, and this index is redone weekly to put in the best acting stocks. Yesterday’s action was positive but it really didn’t do anything to change the overall picture. The market appears to want to go lower. Jerry