Markets gave up about half of the gains made from intraday highs late in the session Thursday. The Nasdaq is finding some solace after Wednesdays move off the 5000 number and gained .4% Thursday. Perhaps the 3 days it CLOSED beneath the number on 11/13-17 were a bear trap but things can develop very quickly. To be frank did not like the “garbage” names like TWTR and GPRO outperforming. For the week headed into Friday it is lower by 2% and mostly likely snapping its 3 week winning streak. The S&P 500, up 2%, met resistance right at its 200 day SMA and for the moment is trading within the parameters of its bullish engulfing candle from 11/16. For the week heading into Friday it has declined 1.8% and is breaking the wrong way from a very tight, last 3 weekly CLOSES which all finished amazingly within 2 handles of each other. Crude lost 2% today as more news spews out which seems to happen on a daily basis. Today it was CVX slashing its spending budget by a quarter. Wednesday in a news headline that I missed, Alaska is looking to put forth its first income tax in 35 years due to the spiraling price. What did stocks in the sector for the most part do with all this news being thrown at it? It gained ground. Am I saying the bottom is in here? I would never be foolish enough to say that, but one certainly has to respect the price action. Stocks that should be getting a boost, but what actually happens in a rational fashion anymore, are the retail names. Some earnings reports are dribbling in with LULU putting up back to back poor reactions with drops of 13.2 and 16.4% on 12/9 and 9/10. MW with the chart below from our Monday 11/30 Game Plan wrinkled 18% Thursday after numbers were reported, and that was AFTER a 43.4% plunge on 11/6 after negative sales data. It too was its second straight poor reaction as it fell 12% on 9/9. COST fell more than 5% on Wednesday on poor sales data. Not to end on a damper, some names reported nice numbers this week with CASY up 4.6% on Tuesday and PLCE higher by 12.5% as well.

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