Broad Markets Drift Lower as AAPL, FB, AMZN, PCLN, GOOG Weak...BBBY, RHT Lower on EPS...MU Soars...

Sector Trend Strength:

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

Sideways: XLV, XLU, XLRE

Down Trend:

Breadth weakened as decliners led 1,738 to 1,247 on the NYSE and led 1,823 to 955 on the NASDAQ.

Thursday – weakened, decliners led, +3

Wednesday – weakened, decliners led, +2

Tuesday – strengthened, advancers led, +7

Monday – strengthened, advancers led, +7

Friday – weakened, advancers led on NYSE, +5

Oil futures were up .14 to close at 52.66 on Thursday.   

SPY down .39 at 225.38 on 55.9 million shares, 41% below average volume,

VIX up .16 at 11.43

TLT down .52 at 117.81…on 5.1 million shares, 57% below average volume

Technical Commentary:

DIA -0.10%, SPY -0.17%, QQQ -0.28%, IWM -1.27%,

Volume remained light on Thursday heading into the three-day Christmas weekend.  Low volume trading on SPY, DIA and TLT are three examples. 

Broad markets pulled back slightly on Thursday.

SPX down 4 points at 2,260.96

SPX Leaders MU, ALXN, CAG, MPC, REGN, MOS, CELG, HUM, FTR, WDC, SWKS, AMAT, AIV, VZ, SE, HSY, NVDA, VLO, ISRG, LRCX, PXD, HRL, BHI, AET, EXR, SRCL, DUK, PSA, AIZ, IFF, DLR, SWN, SYK, PSX, ES, AEE, ESS, AYI

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

  

NDX point gainers: MU, CELG, ALXN, REGN, HC, NVDA, AMAT and CMCSA

NDX point losers:  AAPL, FB, AMZN, WBA, PCLN, GOOG, DLTR, GILD and AVGO

Earnings Reports

MU +2.61, +12.68% on a positive earnings reaction.

CAG +1.29, +3.39% on a positive earnings reaction.

RHT -11.08, -13.89% on a negative earnings reaction on missed revenues.

BBBY -4.18, -9.17% on a negative earnings reaction on missed EPS.

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, COST, PAYX, FISV, SQ, TSCO, USB, ZION,

FDX, UPS, ADBE, ADSK, CHTR, DISCA, EA, EBAY, FAST, GILD, GOOG, MAR, PCAR, STX, BAC, ICE, CE, PWR, APA, BHI, LNG,

One Day Pullback: AVGO, ALK, CTXS, AAPL, WFM,

  

Bull Flag Bounces include: AMAT, FTI, SOXL,

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

Support Bounce: DISH, NUE, ATI, CSX,

Horizontal Breakout Setups include: HIG, MGM, HAL, QQQ, DIA, ADI, MSFT, INTC, XLNX, WDC, AAL, CHKP, LRCX, NFLX, NTAP, TMUS, FAS, JPM, C, CFG, GS, CMA, ETFC, HBAN, KEY, MS, RF, SCHW, STI, TRV, AKS, X, STLD, RCL, CCL, GD, DAL, LUV, UAL, BA, UTX, MMM, CHK, HES,

Horizontal Breakouts include: MU,

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

Break of Support: RHT, BBBY, SCHN, 

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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. 

32 of 100 NDX stocks closed higher and two were unchanged on Thursday.

61 NDX stocks are above their 30 DMA.

NDX Stocks to Watch on Friday:

Moving Above 30 DMA = 1

ALXN,

Moving Below 30 DMA = 5

FB, QCOM, SBUX, WBA, XRAY

6-month Intermediate Term Market Trend: Up

3-day Short Term Market Trend: Neutral