Dow and S&P 500 Lead Stocks Lower as NASDAQ Finds 200 Day Support

More selling hits the street despite yesterday’s end of day rally. The 200 day provided the NASDAQ with some support, but the index failed to put in a big turn around day. Earnings continue to pour in and are only helping a few stocks. FB reported after-hours and is seeing a rush of buyers into the stock, but FB is not the norm. Volatility spiked closing above its 200 day moving average for the first time since the beginning of June when our most recent rally began. Fear has once again crept back into the market, but we lack the panic we normally see in a market bottom. Price action continues to be weak with volume still big on the downside and we remain in sell mode. Earnings season has crushed many growth stocks, but they continue to pile up. BWLD is just another victim to the earnings disaster. FB and PNRA are two bright spots, but they are the exception to the rule. NFLX was hit hard again in after-hours as the company failed to reach its user target. The stock had seen some life, but for a little over a year has been taken to the woodshed. CMG is in the same camp. The ultimate growth stock AAPL reports on Thursday and after failing to rally after its announcement of the iPad mini Thursday’s report will be important to the stock. AAPL has touched its 200 day, but has yet to top out since the 2009 bottom. More than 3 years later the stock has had a tremendous run and Thursday we’ll see if the stock can find the juice to resume hitting new highs. Commodities continue to pull back as crude oil briefly hit an 85 handle on the day. Gold and silver continue to pullback after their run up from the announcement of QE 3 or what we call QE forever. The market has now pulled back roughly 6% (NASDAQ) from the QE announcement. The market dropped roughly 3.5% from its peak from the QE2 announcement. At the moment we have support at the 200 day for the NASDAQ while the S&P 500 has yet to reach its 200 day. The election is two weeks away and it is bound to have an affect on the market. The most recent pullback has not been kind to leading stocks and it appears we’ll see this continue given the reaction to earnings as of now. Have a plan and trade. Cut losses and ride your winners. Volatility is finally showing some fear in the market and will at some point signal a possible bottom. Cash is king for now.