Complete Monday Game Plan 12/23/13

Markets capped off a prosperous week Friday as both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 recorded bullish outside weeks. The Nasdaq like the true leader it has been for months led the way with a 2.6% advance. Not to be outdone the S&P 500 scored a 2.4% gain. Volume returned with a vengeance this week, a very welcome sign. A lot had to do with quadruple witching Friday, but Wednesdays tally was very impressive as well. On Wednesday the S&P 500 enjoyed its third largest daily volume since July and was comparable to Fridays numbers. For the year now the Nasdaq still remains the top dog in town with a 35.9% move compared to the S&P 500’s 27.5%. Giving further credence to the move this week was the small caps S&P 600 3.2% gallop higher in its best weekly volume in more than 2 years.When small caps outperform that suggests a healthy market and a rally that still has legs. The market did respond to rosy news this week as GDP, housing data, and even tapering all were received nicely by the benchmarks. The building group did give the market a lift this week, pun intended. The XHB has displayed virtually no heavy volume down days since mid October and has carved out a cup with handle pattern with a 32.76 trigger that began in late May. Little talked about NVR came within a 2″x4″ of closing above the big round 1000 handle. Transports looked solid as the IYT was able to charge through the 130 handle on a closing basis for the first time. Volume was below the daily average however. The rails have acted well, but it may be time to look into the trucking group, as the more articles I read, the more this group seems to look good. From AMZN’s Jeff Bezos hinting he may need a trucking company in the future to keep pace and the Panama Canal’s ongoing construction should benefit the group. Blow those horns!