Leaders Index 8-15-19

[Jerry Samet]

The action of the market today would have to be considered disappointing. After a big decline you want to look to the quality of the bounce to give a clue as to whether the worst is over. We didn’t even get a weak bounce today. The major averages opened about unchanged and after recovering some intraday weakness finished about unchanged. The New York averages were stronger with the SPX gaining .25%. The Nasd averages were lower with the COMPQ and the NDX losing .09% and .07% respectively. All the major averages closed in the upper half of their trading ranges, about the only encouraging development today. Volume was lower across the board, down by 3.63% on the New York and 11.16% on the Nasd. Leading stocks were mixed. The leaders index gained .28% on the day and closed in the upper half of its trading range. Volume was much lower and below average. The market didn’t recover any of yesterday’s losses. The gains in the New York averages were tiny compared to yesterday’s losses and the Nasd averages were actually down. The small and mid-cap stocks along with the semiconductors were down today. Volume was also lower across the board. The lower volume showed that large institutional players were not heavy buyers today after selling heavily yesterday. This is weak action overall and points to likely lower prices ahead. Jerry