ChartSmarter Thursday Game Plan 3/9/17

Markets gave up lukewarm early gains and finished near lows for the session. The Nasdaq was higher by almost .5% intraday but gave up most of that move to finish higher fractionally. The week ending 2/24 recorded a doji candle and last week a shooting star with resistance near the round 5900 figure are things to keep in mind as it still trades 3% above its 50 day SMA. The S&P 500 dropped .2% and yet again it was the Russell 2000 which garnered attention slipping .6% and today CLOSED underneath its 50 day SMA. It last flirted with that line in late January and early February and defended that line very well. The rest of this week could be very telling as that index was a sprinter out of the gate after the election. Perhaps it is just reverting back toward its benchmark peers. A huge laggard today among sectors was energy, which again highlights the idea when things start in motion they tend to stay that way, and here that is obviously downward. The XLE fracked below both the round 70 number and its 200 day SMA losing 2.6%. Those type of moves are rare for the ETF as it last registered one back on 12/14. Prior to that it recorded drops of 3 and 2.9% respectively on 9/9 and 9/13 and it was not long after that a short term bottom was formed. It is getting hard to make legitimate reasons to be sanguine on the group, but one can now start to scour the industry for best of breed names that may record bullish candlesticks. An engulfing candle or piercing line would qualify and remember the candles are much more accurate calling bottoms than tops in my opinion. Some retail names are beginning to show some life and below is the name of SKX, full disclosure I own a pair!, and how it was presented in our Friday 3/3 Game Plan. It was up nearly 3% Wednesday.