The stock market indices ended this week with a bang, beginning with a move up from the get-go. They rallied all day, consolidated late morning, and then went to new session highs by late afternoon, pulled back, and backed and filled into the close.
Net on the day, the Dow was up 186.41 at 12,184.11, the S&P 500 up 20.84 to 1,255.19, and the Nasdaq 100 up 36.09 at 2,318.68. Those levels were not that far off the highs for the day.
Advance-declines were 5 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange with 573 up and 441 down, and 21 to 4 1/2 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 11 to 1 positive on New York, with 709 million up and 66 million down. Nasdaq traded 1 2/3 billion shares and had a 7 1/2-8 to 1 positive volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was nearly all positive, except for one stock, Pizza Inn Holdings, Inc., which was down 33 cents to 6.37, along with some ultra-shorts.
Leading the way today by far was Diamond Foods, Inc., our stock of the week. It was up 14.01 to 40.56, or 58%, on 15.6 million shares on some good news. The Cooper Companies Inc. also had a good day today, up 9.65, or 17%, on 4.1 million shares.
Low-priced Flow International Corp. snapped back 1.10 to 3.52, or 45%.
Among other stocks of note, The McClatchy Company was up 64 cents to 2.36, or 37; Smart Balance, Inc. up 80 cents to 5.75, or 16%; Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation 50 cents to 3.83, or 15%; Dynegy Inc. 36 cents to 3.00, or 13.6%; and Cyanotech Corp. 95 cents to 8.59, or 12%.
In addition, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. advanced 69 cents to 7.52, Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. 71 cents to 8.13, and Glu Mobile, Inc. 29 cents to 3.41.
SPDR Global Dow ETF was up 58 cents to 51.22, Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc. up 1.15 to 14.01, Invacare Corporation 1.30 to 16.00, Taleo Corp. 3.30 to 42.24, Sourcefire, Inc. 2.56 to 34.24, Pall Corp. 4.16 to 56.66, and Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., one of our favorite biotechs, up 3.08 to 45.59.
The Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares jumped 3.79 to 46.08.
Large-cap stocks had a good day today. Apple Inc. gained 2.96 to 393.62, Golar LNG Ltd. 2.22 to 44.34, International Business Machines Corp. 2.98 to 194.56, Goldman Sachs 1.53 to 101.45, Netflix, Inc. 1.47 to 70.89, Universal Display Corp. 1.60 to 40.56, SolarWinds, Inc. 1.69 to 33.28, and Travelzoo Inc. 1.37 to 27.25.
On the downside, the ultra-shorts got hammered. The VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN was down 6.79 to 42.67, the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares 2.73 to 26.82, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares 2.52 to 38.48, the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares 1.63 to 30.11, the Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares 1.14 to 18.73, and the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN 3.10 to 40.61.
Stepping back and reviewing the daily chart patterns, the indices basically stair-stepped their way higher all day, and only in the last hour did they back and fill, but still closed with big gains on the session. It was a great way to end the week as key support was tested this morning and held, and the indices bounced back.
It will be interesting to see how next week goes.
Good Trading!
Harry
