ChartSmarter Thursday Game Plan 2/19/15

Markets traded quietly for a second consecutive session of the holiday shortened week Wednesday and you know what they say about a dull market. Never short it is the old adage. The tight action following for example the Nasdaq’s last 2 weekly gains of 5.5% has to be construed as bullish. There still seems to be a steady chorus of people hating the market and perhaps a nice quote from Mark Twain comes in handy, “whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect”. Of course with markets things can change on a dime but there seems to be no reason to get off the train at the moment. The strengthening retail group had some bifurcation after earnings announcements today. A couple of restaurant names acted very well Wednesday with PBPB and JACK rising by 16 and 7%. Couple that with the disappointments from FOSL and LZB declining by 16 and 6% and investors holding the latter two names have experienced some indigestion, pun intended. JACK’s advance was its fifth consecutive earnings beat after gains of 4.8, 10.5, 2.2 and 8% on 11/19, 8/6, 5/15 and 2/20. Couple that with FOSL’s loss today and it makes it 3 disasters out of it last 4 as it declined 5.6 and 10.3% on 8/13 and 5/14 (it rose 8.4% on 11/12).