ChartSmarter Tuesday Game Plan 5/24/16

Markets began the week in listless fashion with the indexes not directional one way or the other. The Nasdaq fell by .1% and the S&P 500 lost .2%. The materials group led by a wide margin with the XLB up 1.4% buoyed by its third largest component MON receiving a bid. Defensive groups continue to lag with the utilities the worst performer on Monday. In fact last week saw an exodus from some of the safety names in a possible early rotation into some bullish groups. Names like CPB fell 9.4% last week in weekly volume not seen since the week ending 12/20/13 (it gave back the prior 3 weeks worth of nearly 9% gains and volume last week almost equaled the 3 weeks ending between 4/29-5/13). HRL slumped 12.6% in weekly volume not seen in the last 5 years and that was on top of a combined 15% loss the 3 weeks ending 4/8-22. Below is the chart of HRL which we were WRONG about in our Tuesday 5/10 Game Plan in which we felt a move above the 40 number would be a positive. Even best of breed name MCD lost 4.9% in above average weekly volume. There seems to be a strong tug of war going on with the bulls and bears as many point to the fact that we have not seen new all time highs in one year. True one likes to see consolidation, but the type we are witnessing presently may be a little longer than investors want to see. Even the big managers have opposing outlooks with Icahn and Soros betting on some big drawdowns. Others like Tepper and Birinyi are more optimistic in there forecasts, although Lazlo remains almost 25% in cash.