ChartSmarter Thursday Game Plan 4/21/16

Markets finished higher Wednesday but off session highs with the Nasdaq ahead by .2% and the S&P 500 by .1%. The semiconductor group helped the tech index outperform as INTC mentioned it may be going on a shopping spree. It still feels like the stock market is the only game in town as it continues at least for the moment to shrug off some pretty negative news. One can point to horrible retail sales data, GS saying essentially saying every avenue of their business remains challenging. INTC laying off 11% of its work force, yet the benchmarks keep plowing higher. Risk on continues to be in favor with the only 3 of the major S&P sectors to decline Wednesday were the utilities falling almost 2%, telecommunications and staples losing .7% (industrials and discretionary were basically UNCH). Leading the way higher today was energy and the financials. Oil rose almost 4% and the XLF is now firmly above its 200 day SMA and has gained almost 3% thus far this week after last weeks move of nearly 4%. Below is the chart of GS and how it appeared in our Wednesday 4/13 Game Plan. The 152 trigger was never hit but it is now 6 handles from the pivot point above the bullish ascending triangle. Leaders in the group that continue to shine are BLK which is now 20 handles above its cup with handle buy point of 347.06 taken out on 4/13. The best breakouts work right away and the action POST breakout could give vital clues to the health of the move. DFS in the arena rose more than 8% after a well received earnings reaction and at the time of this writing AXP was higher by 3% after hours after releasing numbers.