Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Wednesday Evening Thread

A frustrating day was had by many traders today. The major indices finished off their lows, but still fairly negative on the day. I have been tracking sector performance here at the end of the quarter, and can report that today there were 3 sectors which finished green on the day: AAPL, the XLF and XHB. What a mixed bag. Whew. Worst performers on the day were KOL, XME, XLB and XLE. That group at least pretty predictable.

The XHB chart above is indicative of some of the "confusion" lately. Data from the hombuilding sector has been mixed, at best, in the last week. Yesterday a gravestone doji was printed, and yet today the group finished higher. Doubtless some of that is "window dressing" as the XHB is the best performing group on my list for the first quarter of 2012 (unless you really put AAPL and PCLN as their own sector.)

Wednesday Afternoon

For the last several weeks the theme has been jbtd. The pullback today in the SPY closes the gap from Monday's open....

Wednesday Morning Thread

Gator's Chart of the Day: CI
Health care is a hot topic this week with the Supreme Court hearing arguments on Obamacare and the individual mandate.  We won't know the outcome for certain until June but there is a lot of trading to be done before then.  Cigna Corporation is a provider of health care plans which are sure to be affected.

The stock has made a series of higher lows (arrows) and is up against resistance that has been impenetrable on multiple tests over the last 6 months.  If you pound on something long enough it is likely to give way.  I think it will require one more pullback to the 45.50 area which also is the confluence of the 20/50/200 day simple moving averages but it could just pop through resistance instead.  I'll set a price alert for 47.50 and make a decision when it is triggered.