Leaders Index 11-27-18

The market opened lower and then bounced around before closing with small gains. All the major averages ended the session near their intraday trading highs, a sign of support. The New York averages led the way today with the SPX gaining .33%. The COMPQ and the NDX were higher by .01% and .34%. Some strength in the large cap tech stocks helped the NDX. Volume was higher across the board, which is what you want to see even with small price gains. Leading stocks were generally mixed with the leaders index lower by .29%. The index closed just above the midpoint of its trading range. Volume was lower, which is good considering the price fell. The market seems to be trying to stage a rally, but so far it is pretty weak. The higher volume was good, but the price gains were small. The major averages remain below even their short term moving averages and the COMPQ had a death cross today. There are few stocks that have proper set ups right now so buy candidates are few. Also not many quality growth stocks have produced worthwhile gains. I said a while ago that ULTA is probably the primary stock right now and how it does will tell us a lot. The stock looks like it is rolling over and has now broken below a century level and has given a Livermore sell signal. We will have to see now if it can hold above the pivot point of its recent breakout. I still haven’t seen much that would change the overall negative picture and a cautious stance is still warranted. Jerry