Markets rose for a third consecutive session as the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rose by .2 and .5%. The Nasdaq still looks as if its ascending triangle formation is intact with the 4800 handle the ceiling. Of course it needs to trade back above its 50 day SMA first which happens to align with the round 4700 figure. Energy led the way Wednesday as the overall group was higher by 2%. As many know this group is severely oversold, but looking on the weekly charts of many of the individual names shows that since the week ending 12/19 many have not revisited those lows from their very bullish engulfing weeks. Stocks have managed to make their way higher and through good consolidation look ready to move north as many still disbelieve the group is out of the woods. Healthcare was the worst performing sector and a few names in the sector lived up to their names. Avalanche Biotechnologies plummeted below its 50 day SMA for the first time in its brief trading history. It is on a 5 day losing streak with very bearish volume trends (see chart below). As we know however stocks will overshoot to both the up and downside and this name may be one of them.
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