Leaders Index 8-12-14

The market had a fairly quiet day today despite the general downward bias. The market opened lower and was down all day. It rallied late to close off it’s lows. The COMPQ led the way down with a loss of .27% while the SPY was off by .16%. Small caps were hit the hardest with the RUT off .78%. The major averages closed in about the middle of their intraday ranges and volume was mixed. It was higher on the Nasd and lower on the New York. This produced distribution on the COMPQ. The SPY remains below it’s 50dma while the COMPQ is sitting right on this important moving average. Leading stocks again outperformed the major averages with the leaders index higher by .33% on the session. The index closed in the upper half of it’s intraday range on higher volume. This is the third day in a row that the leaders index was higher on increasing volume and it continues to rise above both it’s short term and intermediate term moving averages. This is positive action. The fact that quality growth stocks are outperforming the overall market is good. The COMPQ must hold it’s 50dma and start to rise above it on solid volume. If it can’t hold this support it will likely continue lower. We are in a kind of a no mans land right now waiting to see which way the market will go. This is the time of the summer when many players are away so this could continue a while longer. Hopefully it will break on way or the other soon. Jerry