ChartSmarter Thursday Game Plan 12/11/14

Markets displayed their volatile nature once again Wednesday as the major averages were hit. The Nasdaq lost 1.7% and the S&P 500 1.6%. The recurring theme was the weakness in energy names, highlighting that the trend really is your friend whether it is up or down. Things in motion tend to stay in motion and for crude it has not been pretty. Sure we hear a lot of discussions about how low can it go, and with an abundance of that type of talk perhaps we are somewhat close to a bottom. Certain correlations are not happening the way they traditionally would, such as the price at the pump benefitting retailers. Of course the price drop has been rapid, as I heard over and over today that it is lower by 40% in relatively quick fashion. Looking at the recent performance of some retailers however you would think gasoline had a 5 handle on it instead of the crude price. Names that have reported earnings as of late that have been lower include EXPR BIG GME MOV FIVE GES VNCE URBN. One can argue these are not “best of breed” names like an M that jumped 5.1% on 11/12 however it is lower today from the close that session and on a 5 day losing streak. There have been some winners to be fair with stocks like GIII, or discount players like WMT and TGT. As always pay attention to your own individual holdings and trade accordingly.