Leaders Index 3-22-21

The market put in an overall positive performance today. The major averages opened higher and spent most of the rest of the session rallying. Some late selling saw them finish off their highs, but still in the upper half of their intraday trading ranges. The Nasd averages led the way as big cap tech stocks and semiconductor stocks rebounded. Small and mid-cap stocks were weaker. The COMPQ and the NDX gained 1.23% and 1.71% respectively. The SPX was higher by .70%. Volume was mixed, according to Esignal. You would expect volume to be a lot lower after an expiration day and it was on the New York, where it fell 21.82%. Nasd volume didn’t increase much on Friday and it showed very close today, with a gain of .96%. This is so small a change that other data feeds could well have different results. Leading stocks were moderately higher as well with the leaders index gaining .19%. The index closed near its highs of the session and is sitting right on its short term 9dma. Volume was lower and well below average. The market kind of reversed leadership again today with the Nasd averages taking the lead. We have been going back and forth between the small and mid-cap stocks and the Nasd stocks. Today the Nasd stocks were the leaders. The 10 year yield seems to be the controlling factor right now. When the yield increases the small and mid-cap stocks do well and when the yield goes down, as it did today, the big cap tech stocks that dominate the Nasd averages do well. It makes it a little hard to decide where to make your money. We came very close today to a follow through on the COMPQ. That would have increased the conviction that prices were going higher, because right now I think they could go either way. Jerry