Stock Indices Inch Higher on Very Light Volume Going into Three-day Christmas Holiday Weekend...

Sector Trend Strength:

Up Trend: XLF, XLI, XLB, XLY, XLE, XLK, XLP

Sideways: XLV, XLU, XLRE

Down Trend:

For the week ended December 23, five of ten sectors moved higher.

XLF +0.94%, XLK +0.78%, XLI +0.66%, XLU +0.41%,

SPY +0.30%,

Lagging sectors XLP +0.02%, XLV -0.17%, XLE -0.21%, XLY -0.29%, XLB -0.30%, XLRE -0.36%,

YTD 248

Leading Sectors: XLE +26.57%, XLF +21.86%, XLI +18.83%, XLB +15.78%, XLK +14.34%, XLU +12.32%,

SPY +10.71%,

Lagging Sectors: XLY +5.49%, XLP +3.11%, XLRE -3.53%, XLV -3.57%

Breadth strengthened as advancers led 1,764 to 1,210 on the NYSE and led 1,903 to 866 on the NASDAQ.

Friday – strengthened, advancers led, +7

Thursday – weakened, decliners led, +3

Wednesday – weakened, decliners led, +2

Tuesday – strengthened, advancers led, +7

Monday – strengthened, advancers led, +7

Oil futures were up .60 to close at 53.25 on Friday.  

SPY up .33 at 225.71 on 36.6 million shares, 56% below average volume,

VIX up .01 at 11.44

TLT up .34 at 118.05…on 4.4 million shares, 58% below average volume

Technical Commentary:

IWM +0.53%, SPY +0.15%, QQQ +0.07%, DIA +0.04%,

  

Volume dropped again on Friday heading into the three-day Christmas weekend.  Low volume trading on SPY, QQQ, IWM, DIA and TLT are five examples. 

Broad markets rallied slightly on Friday.

SPX up 2.83 at 2,263

SPX Leaders WMB, DNB, RHT, NEM, VRTX, ENDP, AGN, REGN, NVDA, FTR, MNK, COG, ADSK, NRG, EQIX, BIIB, ILMN, ETFC, ALK, BMY, RRC, FLIR, SCHW, STZ, CHK, OKE, COO, TSN, EW, HUM, CAG, CI, CCL, AYI, URI, LH, EA, ABV, BCR, CAH

QQQ closed near Tuesday’s high above resistance for the eighth straight day.

  

NDX point gainers: NVDA, AAPL, REGN, BIIB, AMGN, CELG, TSLA, VRTX, AVGO and NTES

NDX point losers:  AMZN, MSFT, CMCDS, GOOGL and GOOG

2016 Q4 EPS

EPS Positive Reactions

MU, CAG, NKE, KMX, CCL, JBL

EPS Negative Reactions

RHT, BBBY, FINL, AGN, FDX, GIS, ADBE

Follow your rules and look for potential re-entry if you were stopped out of any profitable trades.

Continue to move up stops on short term bullish trades that could pull back.  All according to your profit protection rules.  If you moved stops you may have been stopped out today.

Remember breakouts typically test about 70% of the time.

Technical analysis based trades should be closed before earnings.

Trade what you see, not…

Stocks below support should generally be traded bearishly until a reversal pattern forms.

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Strong Stocks: Setups and Moves You Can Use

Bull Flag Setups include: SPY, IWM, QQQ, COST, PAYX, FISV, SQ, TSCO, USB, GS, AVGO, ALK, CTXS, AAPL, WFM, INTC, FDX, UPS, ADBE, CHTR, CHKP, DISCA, FAST, GILD, GOOG, MAR, PCAR, STX, BAC, ICE, CE, PWR, APA, BHI, LNG, FTI, STLD, LUV, UAL,

One Day Pullback: AMAT, AAL,

Bull Flag Bounces include: ADSK, EA, EBAY,

At Support Setups include: ROST, SBUX, WBA, BBY, NCLH, CC, ATVI, PCLN, ATI

Support Bounce:

Horizontal Breakout Setups include: DIA, SOXL, FAS, MSFT, JPM, C, CMA, ETFC, HBAN, KEY, MS, RF, STI, TRV, CSX, NUE, HIG, MGM, HAL, ADI, XLNX, WDC,

LRCX, NFLX, NTAP, TMUS, AKS, X, RCL, CCL, GD, DAL, BA, UTX, MMM, CHK, HES,

Horizontal Breakouts include: ZION, CFG, SCHW,

New Highs include: NVDA, TSLA, ADP, MU, CMCSA, MCD,

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Short-term Movers for the week:

SPX gainers:  SWN, COG, WHR, ZION, XL, SCHW, CNC, CHK, CAG, MHK +10, 1,  +4, 9

SPX losers:  RHT, FOSL, SPLS, FLSR, URBN, NFX, GGP, RL, GPS, AYI, KORS, FL, NBL, BBY, CME, LKQ, MRK, CAN, TDC, STZ, TGT, PX, -4, 24

NDX gainers:  MU, NVDA, ALXN, TSLA, NTES, WDC, +4, 6

NDX losers:  BBBY, DLTR, ROST, VRTX, LVNTA, -4, 38,

YTD: 248

SPX Leaders:  OKE, FCX, NEM, SE, PWR, CMA, CHK, MLM, HAL, ZION, (377, +22, > 10p 272, +34)

SPX Losers:  FSLR, PRGO, GCI, AGN, LB, HRB, UAA, MNK, MCK, FOSL

NDX Leaders:  NVDA, AMAT, MU, CHTR, TMUS, CSX, ULTA, PCAR, NTAP, LRCX, (65, +9, >10p 45, +8) since 12/2

NDX Losers:  ENDP, TRIP, VRTX, SRCL, ALXN, ILMN, MYL, REGN, GILD, LBTYA

DJI Leaders:  CAT, UNH, GS, JPM, CVX, IBM, MMM, XOM, VZ, UTX, (28, +5, >10p 17, +6

DJI Losers:  NKE, KO,

Trade with the trend of the chart you are trading and continue to move your profit protection stops.  Continue to follow your rules.

The SPY MFC green line is in the upper zone at 92 bullish. 

69 of 100 NDX stocks closed higher and four were unchanged on Friday.

63 NDX stocks are above their 30 DMA.

NDX Stocks to Watch on Tuesday:

Moving Above 30 DMA = 5

ADSK, CELG, ENDP, ISRG, NXPI

Moving Below 30 DMA = 3

AMZN, ROST, SIRI

6-month Intermediate Term Market Trend: Up

3-day Short Term Market Trend: Neutral