ChartSmarter Friday Game Plan 4/22/16

Markets finished in the red Thursday and it was the Nasdaq that was the only index to venture decently into positive territory but CLOSED lower by .05%. Four of the last 6 sessions now have recorded either a spinning top or doji candle which tends to indicate indecisiveness. The bulls could argue that it is just consolidating (last 3 days have all finished taut, within just 8 handles of each other) the flag or cup with handle breakout above 4922 on 4/13. The move came in lukewarm trade and we know the best workouts tend to follow through right away so bulls would like to see some liftoff in the next few sessions. The Nasdaq is fractionally higher by .2% for the week heading into Friday and is in the midst of a one up, one down week for the last 5 so it would not be surprising to see a slight pullback tomorrow. The S&P 500 is still north of its cup with handle breakout above 2075 and Wednesday’s doji at the round 2100 handle is concerning. For the week thus far it is higher by .5%, however but it has the look of a bearish weekly shooting star candle similar to the one the week ended 11/6/15 which was followed by a precipitous drop. This week and that week ending 11/6/15 highs were within 5 handles of each other, possibly forming a double top. Of course things can change on Friday. At the very least one can look for protection and the VXX on the chart below did record a bullish harami candle on Tuesday and the lows for that session were just 8 pennies apart from the lows made the week ending 8/7/15, potentially forming a double bottom. Selling was broad based Thursday with the healthcare group the only one of 10 to close higher. Tomorrow that theme could very well continue with earnings disappointments after the close and GOOGL and SBUX down 5% and MSFT off by 3.5% at the time of this writing.