ChartSmarter Friday Game Plan 8/19/16

Markets once again traded in a narrow fashion and the month of August is now 2/3rds over. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 rose by a similar .2% and heading into Friday the Nasdaq is marginally higher by .2% looking at a possible 8th consecutive weekly advance. It is attempting to have a third straight week with very tight CLOSES and at all time highs this must be construed as bullish. Even tauter would be the performance from the S&P 500 which if the week ended today would have finished the last 3 weeks all within just 5 handles. Energy continues to impress as the XLE looks like it wants to CLOSE above the round 70 figure for the first time in over one year. One of the better looking energy charts out there is MUR and below is the chart precisely how we profiled it in our Tuesday Game Plan this week. Thursday it burst above its 50 day SMA and the round 30 number and the next stop to be aware of is the double bottom trigger of 33.45. Was surprised to see the strength in the ETF given the action in its top component XOM which is looking to spend its fourth week CLOSING below its 50 day SMA. It has been above that line since almost the beginning of the year. The XLE was easily the best actor Thursday higher by 1.9% with the second best performer the XLU up 1.2%. The XLU is looking to CLOSE above the very round 50 number for the twelfth consecutive week.