ChartSmarter Friday Game Plan 3/20/15

The Nasdaq once again demonstrated its leadership qualities as it rose by .2% and its chief rival the S&P 500 fell by .5%. The Nasdaq was aided by strength in the biotech groups as the IBB has now risen for 7 straight sessions and the ETF is looking almost assured of a 6th consecutive weekly rise up almost 6% headed into Friday. By contrast the S&P 500 is being weighed down by energy names as the XLE has declined for 4 straight weeks, but perhaps that group will be ready to bask in some long awaited sunshine if the greenbacks drop Wednesday has any legs. The benchmarks are still enjoying nice weekly gains headed into Friday with the Nasdaq higher by 2.5% and the S&P 500 by 1.75%. The Nasdaq has been up everyday this week and the last 2 have traded intraday above 5000, albeit by a fractional margin. Its only CLOSE above that very round number was back on 3/2. 9 of the 10 major sectors fell on Thursday, a pretty broad decline. The only group to avoid finishing in the red was healthcare. Below is a chart of the XLV the way it was profiled in our first paragraph back in our Tuesday 2/10 Game Plan. The ETF is higher 8 of the last 10 weeks and last week retested its bullish ascending triangle breakout above 71 finding solid support at its 50 day SMA. It is now higher by 9% YTD and 28% over the last one year period.