Leaders Index 5-11-21

The market had another overall negative session today, although there was some late strength and all the major averages closed high in their intraday trading ranges. The high closes were about the only good thing about today’s actions. The major averages opened lower, but a good bit of the early declines were recovered later. In a switch the Nasd averages were the strongest today while the New York averages lagged. The COMPQ and the NDX were off by .09% and .06% respectively. The SPX fell .87%. Volume was very close to yesterday’s levels. It gained .28% on the New York and .91% on the Nasd. This was enough for a new distribution day on the New York averages, but the decline on the Nasd averages was to small to qualify as distribution. Leading stocks were weak as well with the leaders index falling .83% on the day. The index traded most of the day under its 50dma and closed right on it. The index finished high in its trading range on lighter and below average volume. The action of the market today was overall negative but some early losses were recovered. The COMPQ continued below its 50dma and the NDX closed right on this important moving average. We seem to be shifting back and forth between the Nasd stocks and more value and materials. This makes it hard to make much progress. The market is really struggling right now and while it has not clearly broken down it is not acting well. A lot of caution is a good idea right now. Jerry