Leaders Index 6-18-18

The market put in a performance similar to Friday’s. The major averages opened with meaningful declines after China put on tariffs in retaliation for ones Trump put on Friday. They put in their lows in the first ten minutes of trading and spent the rest of the session rallying back. The Nasd averages were again the strongest with the NDX off by only .06% while the COMPQ closed with a slight gain of .01%. The SPX was lower by .21%. All the major and secondary averages closed at or very near their intraday trading highs, a sign that buying came in after the early weakness. Volume was lower across the board, as you would expect after an expiration day. Leading stocks put in a pretty positive session with the leaders index gaining .87% on the day. The index closed near the highs of the session, which was enough for a new closing high. The relative strength line of the leaders index also made a new high. The market put in a positive session today. After sizable early losses the market worked its way higher and pretty much erased all the decline, at least on the Nasd averages. Quality growth stocks put in a good performance, shown in the advance in the leaders index. The market is acting well in the face of difficult news. The fact that it has been resilient in the face of trade war talk is encouraging. The market and leading stocks are holding up well. There is more talk of additional tariffs from the U S after the close and futures are down again. If both governments would shut up for a while we could see a good rally. Right now the picture is still good. Jerry