Leaders Index 3-19-14

The market traded about unchanged in a very tight range early today in anticipation of the Fed announcement. When it came the market was little changed until Yellen’s press conference when she started talking about a date for rate increases after the tapering is done. The major averages then sold off hard and had sizable losses. A last hour rally brought the major averages well off their lows but they still closed with meaningful losses. The SPY led the way down with a loss of .61% while the COMPQ was not far behind, declining .59%. The SPY closed in the lower half of it’s trading range while the COMPQ finished in about the middle of it’s range. Volume was higher across the board so there was distribution on all the major averages. Leading stocks had a poor day as well with the leaders index falling 1.28% and closing near the bottom of it’s intraday range. Volume was lower and very light, showing there was not a lot of large player selling in these stocks. Today’s action did some real damage as the major averages and the leading stocks are both struggling. The distribution count is pretty high now and if the market doesn’t start to rally with some conviction soon it will likely be in real trouble. I will be away for a few days, the updates will resume next week. Jerry