ChartSmarter Thursday Game Plan 5/11/7

Markets put in yet another lackluster session Wednesday as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished very close to the UNCH mark. The small caps came to life today with the Russell 2000 up .6% and it is now flirting with its own round 1400 number. Looking at individual groups energy was the clear leader with the XLE advancing 1.3% and second best was technology higher by .4%. The XLK has risen 10 of the last 13 days and during its current 3 week winning streak each one has gained more than 1% and this week heading into Thursday is looking to do the same up .9% thus far. Looking into the XLE it did drop .8% last week, and is now off 13% from most recent 52 week highs, but in doing so recorded a bullish hammer candle on the best weekly volume in the last 6 months. The sector was helped by inventories today and CVX reported decent earnings today as it attempts to stabilize here just below a prior weekly cup base breakout trigger of 107.68 taken out the week ending 11/16/16. Lagging Wednesday were the industrials, healthcare and cyclicals. There were quite a few good earnings reports today, most notably NVDA which jumped 18% and is now either at a triple top at the round 120 figure, or if you are a bull just above a cup base trigger of 121.02. Other plays from names that were not keeping pace with the overall market bounce and shined in the retail sector today at possibly an indication the industry was getting frothy, were CROX and COTY both screaming higher to the tune of 17.4 and 11.9% respectively (notice COTY paused near the very round 20 number). One serial disappointment was VSI which has lost almost a third of its value this week and is 60% off 52 week highs. One retail name worth a look is CONN and below is the chart and how it appeared in our Tuesday Game Plan this week.