ChartSmarter Friday Game Plan 5/16/14

Remember the good old days with tech bellwether CSCO would ignite strong rallies off a sturdy earnings release? I hear crickets in the background. A jump of better than 6% Thursday did little to jump start the Nasdaq (CSCO fell its last 3 releases by 2.5, 11 and 7.2%) although it did mount a comeback late in the session. At mid day the benchmark was lower by more than 1.5%. The Nasdaq is now basically UNCH for the week even after Mondays robust 1.8% advance. WMT perhaps is a better indicator in the retail space, than CSCO is in the tech arena, and it fell Thursday after reporting earnings by 2.4%. That should not have come as a surprise as it has not excited investors the last 4 times it released numbers. On 2/20 it dropped 1.8%, 11/14/13 was UNCH and 8/15/13 it fell 2.6%. Lets remember this name hails from the weak retail sector where laggards are plentiful. Best in breed M declined almost 1.5% today a day after weak sales data. Other fragile groups that are concerning are the homebuilders. The ETF XHB is lower 7 of the last 10 weeks and down more than 1% this week heading into Friday. Notice how it bounced almost precisely off the round 30 handle today however. Do not buy any means “build” a nest egg with this fund please.