Leaders Index 2-18-20

The market actually put in a solid session today. There was weakness on the open, mostly to AAPL’s revenue warning yesterday. This is the kind of news that can cause a sell off. The major averages opened lower but found their footing quickly. They bounced around higher and lower for a while then some buying came in and the major averages went to their intraday highs. Some late selling saw them close just below their highs of the day. The Nasd averages were the strongest with the COMPQ flat and the NDX gaining .05%. The SPX fell .29%. All the major averages closed near their intraday trading highs, an encouraging sign. Volume was higher across the board. It was higher by 8.32% on the New York and 1.48% on the Nasd. This was enough to produce a distribution day on the SPX. Leading stocks were lower on the day with the leaders index declining .48% on the day while the FFTY fell .22%. The index held above all its short term moving averages and finished in the upper half of its trading range. Volume was higher and above average. This shows distribution in quality growth stocks. The action of the market was actually pretty solid today. The AAPL news yesterday and WMT missing its earnings are the kind of things that can cause a decline. The market opened lower and spent most of the remainder of the session working its way higher. When the market doesn’t sell off on negative news it generally wants to go higher. The Nasd averages were flat on the AAPL news, which shows strength. A market that holds up on negative news is showing that there is support under prices. The higher volume was bad, particularly on the New York, but Friday had unusually low volume due to the long weekend. The market continues to act well overall we should see higher prices ahead. Jerry