Leaders Index 12-12-18

The market opened strong on news that China could be offering some real concession on trade. The major averages gapped over yesterday’s close and rallied to solid gains. With a couple of hours left in the session selling came in. All the major averages finished the day at their intraday trading lows, even though they were higher overall. This shows that there were sellers coming in as prices rose. The Nasd averages led the way with the COMPQ and the NDX gaining .95% and .89% respectively. The SPX rallied .54%. Volume was mixed. I was higher on the Nasd but very close on the New York. Leading stocks showed good gains, but again they closed well off their highs. The leaders index rallied 1.21% on the day, but closed low in its trading range. It did however finish above its important 17dma. Volume was lower and well below average. It looked like there would be a very positive session today, but the late selling spoiled the party. You want to see strong closes to show strength in the underlying market. When you get higher opens and lower closes it is a sign of weakness. Quality growth stocks are not acting well but are outperforming the overall market as can be seen in today’s new high in the relative strength line of the leaders index. The most important thing at the end of the day is how are leading stocks performing. Right now few are producing any worthwhile gains since the last follow through. You never know what the market is going to do, but it is hard to get very excited right now. Jerry