Leaders Index 8-29-19

The market staged a strong rally today when it looked like China was backing away a bit and would not respond to new tariffs taking effect this weekend. It was a news driven rally, but a good one. The major averages opened higher and mostly held the gains for the rest of the session. All the major averages closed high in their intraday trading ranges, a good sign. The Nasd averages were a little stronger with the COMPQ and the NDX gaining 1.48% and 1.51% respectively. The SPX rallied 1.27%. Volume was higher across the board. It was up by 6.21% on the Nasd and 5.21% on the New York. This is the first day in a while where there have been strong price gains accompanied by higher volume. Leading stocks had a positive session as well. The leaders index was flat with a decline of .03%. This was due to a couple of components of the index selling off. The index is slightly back above its short term 9dma and it closed just below the midpoint of its trading range. Volume was higher and about average. The market put in its most positive session in a while today. There were solid price gains on higher volume. This was the first positive volume signature in a while. The chart of the leaders index is showing a consolidation after its recent advance and it is happening in a pretty orderly manner. The major averages have recovered nicely in the last couple of days and are closing in on their now flat 50dma’s. The two things we should be looking for now are for the leaders index to break above its consolidation range and for the major averages to break above their 50dma’s. Both of these should occur on strong volume. There will be no update tomorrow. I hope everyone has a good Labor Day weekend. Jerry