ChartSmarter Tuesday Game Plan 3/18/14

Markets kicked off a new week Monday with solid gains. It is much to early to say the benchmarks are out of the woods yet, but they did display some bullish traits today. Bearish leaning or fatigued markets which we have currently, will open on highs and finish near the lows. Monday saw the major averages hold most of those 1% early gains, although volume was tepid. Mondays have been tough for the indexes this year, and looking at the leading Nasdaq it has fell 6 of 8 Mondays in 2014 (two opening Tuesdays from holiday shortened weeks on 1/21 and 2/18 were both UP .7%). Sectors that led Monday were the industrials, financials, and materials. Groups that have faded in recent weeks include the homebuilders, which many feel is an essential ingredient to any rally continuing. People feel more affluent when their home values rise and that translates into more upbeat consumer spending which fuels 2/3rds of the economy. Specific names in the industry that have had rough goes of it lately are DHI which has fallen 10.5% over the last 2 weeks. LEN and PHM fell 9% during that same time frame. TOL fell 8% last week alone. Among other things that worry us is the declining number of new 52 week highs versus lows. They have come down hard since their lofty triple digit highs, to scant new lows. For instance last Friday’s figures on the NYSE were almost even by 47 to 35 margin.