Markets began the week positively as holiday shortened weeks tend to be bullish. Technology “lagged” slightly as the Nasdaq rose by .5% and the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 rose by .6 and .75% respectively. Earnings came in from some big retailers and they were well received for the most part with WMT and HD advancing 3 and 1.4%. Seems like investors were caught off guard with WMT as it beat and narrowly missed trading above a double bottom trigger of 72.58. It did break above its 200 day SMA and is looking for its first 4 week winning streak since last June, to emphasize how tough the road has been for the stock in general. Looking at the top of the leaderboard among individual sectors one could question the sectors as they were led by energy, utilities and staples (MDLZ jumped nearly 6% recapturing most of last Thursday and Fridays losses after it was shunned by KHC). Talking about defensive names they do not get more specific than with alcohol names. Below is the chart of TAP and how it appeared in our Tuesday Game Plan this week. Notice how the very round par figure has been influential since last November and one can make the case that former stern resistance may not be turning into support.

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