Commentary:

Yesterday’s session was a boring repeat of the previous day’s action, except that stocks gapped slightly lower, rather than higher, on the open. Thereafter, the same trendless, low-volatility trading range dominated the rest of the day, causing stocks to again settle near unchanged levels. The Nasdaq Composite eked out a 0.1% gain, as both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average finished flat. The small-cap Russell 2000 rose less than 0.1% and the S&P Midcap 400 slipped 0.2%. Once again, as anticipated, there was really nothing going on.

Total volume in the NYSE was roughly on par with the previous day’s level, while volume in the Nasdaq ticked 3% higher. Although turnover remained below average levels, the Nasdaq’s nominal gain on slightly higher volume was positive. Next week, after the new year has begun, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other institutions should begin returning to the markets. When they do, volume will correspondingly rise, and we’ll quickly find out whether or not the extremely light volume holiday gains are sustainable in the short-term. Until then, one might expect the last trading day of the year to be not much different than the preceding two days. Have a great, safe New Year’s celebration this evening!

Holiday Publication Schedule: Today, December 31, only an abbreviated version of The Wagner Daily will be published, primarily updating subscribers of any changes to open positions. On Friday, January 1, the stock markets will be closed in observance of the New Year’s Day holiday. As such, The Wagner Daily will not be published that day. Regular publication will resume on Monday, January 4. We at MTG sincerely wish you the best personal and business success in 2010.

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Today’s Watchlist:

There are no new setups in the pre-market today. If we enter anything new, we’ll promptly send an Intraday Trade Alert with details.

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Daily Performance Report:

Below is an overview of all open positions, as well as a performance report on all positions that were closed only since the previous day’s newsletter. Net P/L figures are based on the $50,000 Wagner Daily model account size. Changes to open positions since the previous report are listed in red text below. Please review the Wagner Daily Subscriber Guide for important, automatic rules on trigger and stop prices.

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Notes:

• No changes to the open positions above. SMH acting well. EEV and FAZ little changed yesterday.
• Reminder to subscribers – Intraday Trade Alerts to your e-mail and/or mobile phone are normally only sent to indicate a CHANGE to the pre-market plan that is detailed in each morning’s Wagner Daily. We sometimes send a courtesy alert just to confirm action that was already detailed in the pre-market newsletter, but this is not always the case. If no alert is received to the contrary, one should always assume we’re honoring all stops and trigger prices listed in each morning’s Wagner Daily. But whenever CHANGES to the pre-market stops or trigger prices are necessary, alerts are sent on an AS-NEEDED basis. Just a reminder of the purpose of Intraday Trade Alerts.
• For those of you whose ISPs occasionally deliver your e-mail with a delay, make sure you’re signed up to receive our free text message alerts sent to your mobile phone. This provides a great way to have redundancy on all Intraday Trade Alerts. Send your request to support@morpheustrading.com if not already set up for this value-added feature we provide to subscribers.

Edited by Deron Wagner,
MTG Founder and Head Trader