Leaders Index 7-19-21

The market took a hit today. It seems that fears of the Delta variant spreading spooked the market. The major averages gapped down at the open and went on to meaningful losses. Some late buying came in and the major averages finished off their intraday lows. There was more strength in the Nasd averages as they closed high in their intraday trading ranges. The COMPQ declined 1.06% while the NDX lost .90%. The New York averages closed low in their trading ranges with the SPX off by 1.59%. Volume was higher across the board. It rose 11.72% on the Nasd and 36.19% on the New York. This, combined with the price declines produced fresh distribution on all the major averages. Leading stocks outperformed the overall market today with the leaders index actually gaining 1.35% on the day. The index traded below its 50dma early but recovered it and closed high in its trading range. Volume was lower than Friday but still very high. The market got hit pretty hard today. Late buying saw the major averages finish off their lows, but still with losses. The much higher volume showed that large institutional players were heavy sellers today. The outperformance of quality growth stocks is encouraging and the Nasd averages closing high in their trading ranges shows some support, but today’s action was pretty negative. The distribution count is getting higher and more and more important major and secondary averages are below their 50dma’s. We got a little late support today and the futures are a little higher as of this writing, but the market looks like it is going lower. Jerry