Markets staged an impressive reversal, starting out on lows and CLOSING on highs, which I am sure had the bears salivating after the Doha disappointment Sunday evening. If one wants to be a pessimist I guess they can point out that the Nasdaq lagged slightly up .4% Monday. The S&P 500 rose .6% and the IWM a bit better gaining .7%. The IWM which rose a powerful 3.1% last week pushed away from its 200 day SMA today after resting on it for the last 2 sessions. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are narrowing in on the round numbers of 2100 and 5000 and it seems many are still doubting they will get through them. All 10 of the major S&P sectors gained ground today and it was energy and materials that outperformed. Energy names were hit early after crude dropped 6% overnight, but oil recaptured a good chunk of those losses and it did indeed propel the benchmarks north. Below is the chart of energy play SLCA and how we profiled in our Tuesday 3/29 Game Plan and this name is in a sweet spot as it can give valuable clues to the fracking business and also is a part of the strong materials group. Today it took out a flag like pattern with the last 3 weeks all CLOSING tautly finishing within just .24 of each other. Best in breed player RSPP behaved bullishly today ending the session above the round 30 number. That number is significant as we explained in this recent post and it is still looking for its first weekly CLOSE above the 30 figure. Merger Monday moniker lived up to its name as CVT was taken out by a private equity name and it would not be surprising to see these types of deals as traditional mergers have been frowned upon politically as of late.

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