Commentary:
Stocks surged higher on Friday helping the Nasdaq post its biggest weekly gain since the initial rally off the March 2009 lows. However, as has been common lately, the rally was accompanied by light trade. All five major indices closed in the black as higher beta issues led the advance. By the closing bell both the S&P MidCap 400 and the small-cap Russell 2000 had added 2.0% while the Nasdaq tacked on 1.8%. The S&P 500 climbed 1.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the day’s laggard but the blue chip index still gained an impressive 1.5%.
Market internals ended the session mixed for the sixth time in eight sessions. Volume fell marginally on the Nasdaq but was down a healthy 9.0% on the NYSE. Advancing volume outperformed declining volume by a factor of 7.4 to 1 on the NYSDE and 3.0 to 1 on the Nasdaq. Despite the outstanding price action in the market over the past week, it is difficult to jump on the bullish bandwagon given the light volume throughout this nine day rally.
Two weeks ago we stated that the market may reverse if we see a sharp undercut of support at 1,100 on the S&P 500. Since then the market has rallied eight of the past nine sessions. An indicator that we sometimes use to assist us in our market timing is the Accumulation/Distribution Indicator (by price and volume). This indicator is considered a rough leading indicator to market reversals when it diverges significantly for several weeks to several months from price action. As a rule of thumb we like to see at least two divergences over a 4 to 8 week timeframe before we will begin to monitor it more closely. The chart below of the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term ETF (VXX) provides an excellent example of this divergence between price and the Accumulation/Distribution technical indicator. Notice how the VXX set a higher high twice as Accumulation/Distribution failed to confirm. What’s most important is the slope of the line and not the absolute value. The Accum./Dist. Indicator remained flat as VXX was setting higher highs. This was a bearish divergence that clearly warranted our attention. However, also notice that the Accum./Dist. Line is still in an uptrend and did not set a lower low with the price action in VXX on Friday. The fact that VXX the Accum/Dist Line for VXX is still in an uptrend and did not set a lower-low with the price action on Friday suggests that caution is warranted on the long side of the stock market. The point is simple…it may be a bit too early to call off the bear market.
Although we had legitimate entries in both SRS and DTO the bullish surge in the market knocked us out of both trades on Friday as our stops were triggered. Our overnight research revealed very few long or short setups and we are satisfied to be in cash until the market provides a clear signal as to its next move. Although we expect a pullback in the market over the next several days, we still expect more upside over the next 2 to 4 weeks.
Today’s Watchlist:
There are no new setups for today. As always, we will send an intraday alert if any new trades are made.
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
- Per intraday alert, we stopped out of DTO beneath the 20-minute low. SRS triggered its original stop and we are out. Gap downs like DTO happen from time to time and every once in a while we get caught with one.
- 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 [email protected] if not already set up for this value-added feature we provide to subscribers.
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Notes:
Edited by Deron Wagner,
MTG Founder and
Head Trader