Leaders Index 8-30-18

The market was mostly treading water today with the Nasd averages slightly higher and the New York averages a bit lower. With a little more than two hours left in trading talk of additional tariffs on China caused the market to sell off. The Nasd averages held up best with the COMPQ and the NDX declining .26% and .23% respectively. The SPX was lower by .44%. All the major averages closed near their intraday trading lows, a negative sign. Volume was slightly higher across the board. Leading stocks were mixed with the leaders index pretty much flat with a decline of .08%. The index closed a bit below the midpoint of its trading range. Volume was much higher and above average. Most of this increase in volume was due to two components of the index, AAPL and AMZN. The market looked like it was taking a well-deserved rest after its recent advance. The Nasd averages were showing some continued strength while New York averages were slightly lower. A sell off began on news of more tariffs and the overall market and quality growth stocks went into negative territory. The losses were modest and the charts still look solid. In the recent past tariff stories like this one have caused declines that have proven to be modest and short lived. You can never be sure, but this one is not likely to be different. The uptrend appears to be intact and barring worse news than we saw today higher prices are likely. Jerry