Stocks Advance as Volume Swells

The lone economic piece of data for the US was Mortgage Applications showing a 7% gain. Economic data will be light for the rest of the week excluding tomorrow initial jobless claims figure. Commodities pushed higher as gold and crude led the way higher. The dollar index fell on the day and still trying to find a way to move above its 50 day moving average. Earnings season continues to stroll and we continue to see positive action. Volume rose on the session giving us an odd feeling as we normal see volume tail off when the market rises. This uptrend remains intact and unflappable. You know it is a bull market when you have a stock like DDD offer up a secondary share offering and have the stock rally and close higher. A 3D printing stock is certainly a hot sector with tremendous long-term potential. Usually a secondary will sink a stock, but not for DDD. It would be nice for the stock to put in a handle for 3 weeks breaking out from a cup with handle chart pattern. One can dream and we’ll just stick to our trading rules. Today’s action in DDD certainly shows the strength of this market and the stock itself. The II sentiment survey is out showing a jump in both bulls and bears. Bears remain below 20% of survey respondents. Bulls on the other hand jumped back above 50% with 52.1% of respondents indicating they are bullish. Both bulls and bears are near extreme levels. However, neither are at extremes. Tomorrow we’ll get a read on the individual crowd from the AAII survey and the “pros” at NAAIM. AAII has been quite bearish and it will be interesting given the move in the market if they have pushed the bulls back in control. Today’s after-hours session certainly had fireworks. GMCR and TSLA responded well after reporting earnings. Both stocks have had nice runs and will look to add to those gains tomorrow. On the downside RAX continues to struggle with their earnings report. FIO had its co-founder and CEO leave sending the stock lower. We want to get after stocks rising in a good market and GMCR as well as TSLA are a great example of stocks moving in the right direction. Cut those losses and ride your winners.