Leaders Index 7-29-19

The market showed some overall weakness today, but it wasn’t that bad. The major averages opened lower and took some early losses. After a little more than a half hour into trading the major averages bottomed out and rallied for most of the remainder of the session. The Nasd averages took the largest losses with the COMPQ and the NDX losing .44% and .35% respectively. The SPX declined .16%. All the major averages closed in the upper half of their intraday trading ranges, a sign of support. Volume was lower across the board, an encouraging sign as prices fall. Leading stocks got hit harder than the overall market. Tech stocks, particularly software stocks, were hit with selling after an article in Barron’s questioned them. The leaders index was lower by 1.46% on the day. The index closed in the upper half of its trading range and is above a confluence of its 9dma and 17dma support levels. Volume was higher and above average. Prices fell today, but the overall action was not really to negative. There was a lot of selling early across the board, but most of the losses were recovered by the close. All the major averages closed lower, but the fact that they closed in the upper half of their trading ranges showed support as prices fell. There can be accumulation even with prices down if there is a high close in the index even on higher volume. Today’s lower volume showed that large institutional players were not heavy sellers of stocks today. The leaders index continues in its recent consolidation and the charts of the major averages still look ok. The damage done today was limited and doesn’t change the overall positive picture. Jerry