Markets began the week with losses as the Nasdaq led the way lower for the second consecutive Monday. Last Monday the tech benchmark fell 1.3% in strong trade and today it lost .8% in elevated volume once again. Now of course we know the index came back from that loss to finish last week lower by just .2% but this may be something to monitor going forward. Remember the major averages usually like to commence the week in strong fashion, hence the term “mutual fund Mondays”. Without sounding redundant energy again was lower and that dragged not only the energy group down, but has been affecting the transportation group as well. Leaders in the group which once traded very taut are now very loose and clinging onto their 200 day SMAs. NSC comes to mind as it looks at a possible 4th consecutive weekly loss, a feat not seen since the weeks ending 6/14/13-7/4/13. NSC has not visited its 200 day SMA in 15 months. All aboard? When its stock traded in the low 30 RSI range the last couple times it has been a buy. Notice the occasions in August and October led to nice swing trades. This time around the 200 day SMA is there for some extra cushion, but the chart does look like a train wreck, pun intended. Some cause for concern however was the weak relative strength it displayed last week losing 4.1% compared to rivals UNP and CSX which GAINED 1.6 and 1.3% respectively.
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