Monday, March 26, 2012

Stocks Race Higher; Volume up but Below Average

The one thing lacking was above average volume, but that didn’t stop the bullish action on stocks. Leading stocks were quite bullish today a very healthy sign for the market going forward. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ both saw volume come in below average suggesting institutions weren’t out in full force today. Perhaps this is a negative sign for the market, but price action continues to be strong. Another excuse would be today is a Monday and not known to usher in big volume. However, on the other hand volume did surge above average on the Russell 2000. Institutions were certainly engaged in small caps. Today was filled mostly with positive signals for the market and Big Wave Trading continues to reap the benefits.

Gold and silver snapped back today reversing a bit of a hellish slide as of late. While the damage was down over the past few weeks the bounce today was significant. Both precious metals benefit when the printing presses are hot. Big Ben Bernanke signaled today growth needed to pick up in order to support higher job growth. If that wasn’t a signal for further money printing (QE) then I don’t know what does. All the Federal Reserve knows is money printing and artificially keeping rates low and high. When we should be relying on the market for rates we let a small group control the nation’s money supply and interest rates! Fortunately for us trend followers we can simply ride the wave higher and get off when it breaks.

The most encouraging sign is seeing leading stocks perform like they did today. IBD’s 85/85 index roared higher by more than 2% with volume coming in very hot. I can’t think of a better signal than leading stocks pushing the market higher. It has been awhile since we have had such power shown by leading stocks and its about time with this market looking like it was ready to pull back further. It goes to show you opinions mean very little in the stock market.

Big Wave Trading continues to operate under a buy signal and today was just another great day for us. Cut those losses short and your winners run!

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