Leaders Index 7-20-21

The market put in a strong rally today and recovered most of what it lost yesterday. The major averages opened higher and rallied pretty much the rest of the session. A little late selling came in but it was small and all the major averages finished near their intraday trading highs. The gains were substantial and pretty evenly divided. The COMPQ and the NDX gained 1.57% and the 1.23% respectively, while the SPX rallied 1.52%. The small and mid-cap stocks were even stronger. The real issue today is that volume was lower across the board, and a lot lower on the New York. Volume fell 2.76% on the Nasd and 15.49% on the New York. Leading stocks had another strong day with the leaders index gaining 3.06% on the day. The index closed high in its trading range and cleared all its short term moving averages. Volume was huge. This shows buying interest in quality growth stocks, although a good part of the increase was due to MRNA. The market bounced back today after yesterday’s decline. After a big sell off you want to see the quality of the bounce to try to determine if the worst is over. Today’s bounce was good on a price basis , but the lower volume showed that there was less buying pressure today than there was selling pressure yesterday. It is sort of a mixed picture right now. Today’s bounce was good but the lack of volume takes something away from that. On the other hand the stronger performance of leading stocks in the last couple of days is encouraging. It would be positive if the leaders index could break into new high ground, hopefully on volume. It is pretty close. We got a bounce today, but it is one that doesn’t inspire too much confidence. It is the type of market that only a very short term trader can really make much progress in. If you are not a high cash position is likely a good idea. Jerry