ChartSmarter Monday Game Plan 12/28/15

Markets finished the holiday shortened week with a late session selloff to conclude near the UNCH mark. For the week however few probably would have predicted that the Nasdaq would have gained ground everyday last week after a combined drop of 3% the Thursday-Friday prior. The tech heavy index jumped 2.6% for the week and is now higher 6.6% for the year with another brief trading week on deck. The S&P 500 is fractionally higher for 2015 by .1% with 3 1/2 trading days remaining and advanced 2.8% last week (the Dow is lower by 1.5% YTD). Many have been concerned about the strength of lagging sectors this week as the XLE was higher by almost 5%. Put aside the noise and it did record a bullish engulfing week to CLOSE above the round 60 handle after a 3 week losing streak which lost 14% in bulging trade. The materials were strong as well with the XLB up 4.4% this week and its charts complexion is a bit more palatable. The ETF is higher 9 of the last 13 weeks and lets remember the 2 largest positions are DOW and DD which have agreed to merge (they make up almost 1/4th of the fund as of Friday). Their outperformance makes last weeks rally a bit suspect, and with many away and a traditional Santa rally supposedly on hand next week should be interesting. Two stocks whose action made you take a double look were from leaders NKE and DIS. DIS was your classic “sell the news” event, or was it? Even before the recent Star Wars debut left it reeling this week with a loss of 1.7%, it slumped the prior 4 as well and its current 5 week losing streak leaves it 13% off recent 52 week highs. NKE (underwent a 2:1 split this week) reversed hard Thursday after an initially well received earnings report. The selling continued Friday leaving it 5 handles off Thursdays intraday high and recording a bearish weekly shooting star candle from all time highs this week (weekly volume was the heaviest in years). We all know textbooks are normally irrelevant not long after being published, but the old belief is that the big cap, seemingly defensive plays are normally the last to hold up in an aging bull. Should recent the action of these two names have investors concerned?