Leaders Index 5-19-23

The market sold off moderately yesterday after a couple of days of solid gains. The major averages opened a bit higher but it didn’t last. Selling came in and all the major averages worked their way lower most of the remainder of the session. All the major averages finished near their intraday trading lows. The COMPQ and the NDX fell .24% and .22% respectively. The SPX declined .14%. Volume was lower across the board so there was no distribution yesterday. Leading stocks were lower as well with the leaders index falling .43% on the day, about in line with the FFTY. The index closed in the upper half of its trading range on lower but above average volume. The market sold off yesterday after two good up sessions on reports that a debt ceiling deal was close. Word came out yesterday that a snag had been hit and there was some weakness. It was a mild down day, and that is good as news of a potential problem with the negations only caused a small decline in the market. Most of the gains of the last two days held. This is near term encouraging. The Nasd continued to be the leaders and is showing strong gains so far this year. The market still seems to want to go higher in at least the short term so we could see higher prices for a bit, but I still think the market is not ready for a real sustained move higher at this point. Jerry