ChartSmarter Wednesday Game Plan 2/8/17

Markets yet again hugged the near unchanged mark with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq higher fractionally and .2%. The slow and gradual move higher may feel like paint drying, but as a famous investor once said “making money is boring”. The 20, 50 and 200 day SMAs on the Nasdaq and S&P 500 continue to slant upward and even the 20 day on the Dow is now beginning to curl higher after going sideways after a lengthy advance. Sure there is plenty to be concerned about with some negative earnings reactions with IP or a PAYX. GM undercut its 50 day SMA losing almost 5% today. KORS was almost certain, of course there are no guarantees, to go lower just with its inclusion in the battered retail space and it slumped 11% Tuesday. The stock is 38% off most recent 52 week highs and bottom feeders may be excited with the possibility of a double bottom with today and lows made back during the week ending 1/22/16. Looking at individual sectors it has become too familiar with the staples and utilities right near the top of the leaderboard. Lets remember it is still early of course in ’17, but I believe the Barron’s outlook issue for this year had almost every market “guru” as there sectors to avoid. Below is the chart of CLX and how it appeared in our Monday Game plan this week and it has now CLOSED above its 200 day SMA for a third consecutive session Wednesday after touching it each of the three intraday. The allure of the dividend yield is becoming appetizing as the belief with multiple interest rate hikes this year diminishes. As noticeable the defensive groups seem to be at the top of the daily returns, energy has been a clear laggard. The XLE slipped another 1.5% and is looking at a possible 7th weekly decline in its last 9 already lower by more than 2% thus far this week. Is the ETF’s action trying to say something about the economy going forward? A rising energy sector often signals a healthy environment for benchmarks and add to that the materials weakness too.