Leaders Index 8-12-21

The market put in a mildly positive session today. The major averages opened lower but quickly found a bottom and worked their way higher the remainder of the session. All the major averages finished at or very near their intraday trading highs. The gains were pretty evenly divided with the COMPQ and the NDX higher by .35% and .41% respectively. The SPX gained .30%. The small and mid-cap stocks that were the leaders yesterday were lower. Volume was lower across the board. It was down just slightly by just .41% and lower by 10.35% on the New York. Leading stocks were little changed with the leaders index completely flat, even though some other indexes of quality growth stocks were slightly higher. The index closed high in its trading range and held its important 17dma. Volume was lower and about average. The market was overall somewhat positive today. There was early weakness but the major averages recovered to finish near their highs of the day. The gains were moderate but the New York averages made new highs today. The Nasd averages are not far from recent highs. It remains a choppy market and it is tough to make real progress, but the market looks like it wants to go higher, in at least the short term. Jerry