The market had a mixed session today. The New York averages, along with the small and mid-cap stocks, were higher while the Nasd averages and the semiconductor stocks were lower. The major averages opened higher and then spent the rest of the session working their way lower. The COMPQ and the NDX declined .48% and .44% respectively and the SOX declined 1.15%. The SPX was higher by .27%. All the major averages finished in the lower half of their intraday trading ranges. Volume was higher across the board. It was higher by 2.97% on the New York and .79% on the Nasd. The change in Nasd volume was so small that other data feeds could produce different results. Leading stocks were mixed with the leaders index producing a small decline of .17%. The index closed low in its trading range but held its important 17dma. Volume was lower and well below average. The action of the market today was mixed. There was weakness in tech and growth related stocks and that showed up in the Nasd and semiconductor averages. Strength in building and other sectors helped the New York averages. The market is struggling and making any real progress is pretty difficult right now. Last week there were a number of important companies, including the top tech companies reporting earnings and the numbers were very good. You would expect that this would produce a nice rally, particularly in the Nasd averages. That didn’t happen. Most of the companies that reports good results did nothing or sold off. This could be the market not reacting well to good news. This rarely foretells positive action ahead in the market. The overall evidence still points to the rally not being over, but there are a lot of warning signs out there now. It is hard to make progress right now and so some real caution should be exercised. Jerry
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