Leaders Index 9-26-18

The market started off in a positive manor today. There was strength going into the Fed announcement and then the major averages rallied after the announcement. There was a reversal in the last forty-five minutes of trading during the press conference and the major averages started to sell off. The Nasd averages were again the strongest and at the peak the gains approached one percent. The COMPQ and the NDX at the close were down .21% and .01% respectively. The SPX was lower by .33%. All the major averages closed at or very near their lows of the session as selling continued into the close. Volume was slightly higher, according to Esignal, but it was close so there could be other results from other data feeds. This is enough to produce a fresh distribution day on all the major averages. Leading stocks were doing pretty well early, but they sold off with the overall market. The leaders index tried to get above the 17dma early but the late selling knocked it down. The index finished lower by .70% and closed low in its trading range. Volume was lower and well below average, so there was no distribution in quality growth stocks. The action today was good until the Fed’s news conference got going and stocks sold off. Things were looking better but this kind of reversal is a little scary. This does tend to happen often on Fed announcement days, especially during the news conference. These moves are often reversed the next day. The bottom line in this type of trading is can you find attractive stocks that you are really interested in buying. Right now there are attractive stocks out there. Based on this the odds are that the market will work its way higher, at least for a little while. Jerry