ChartSmarter Wednesday Game Plan 8/2/17

Markets recorded a lukewarm session with the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 all rising in the neighborhood of .2%. Looking at individual groups it was the financials, utilities and technology that led and healthcare and industrials which lagged. There has been some recent vulnerability in tech and if those woes continue that is certainly a concern. The Dow last week showed some fine relative strength up 1.2% as the Nasdaq and S&P 500 lost ground, albeit softly. The Dow which we rarely mention is on a 6 session winning streak although it did register a doji candle Tuesday which could foreshadow a weakening of the prevailing trend. However candles come secondary to PRICE action alone and for good reason as Monday recorded a bearish shooting star candle on the Dow. Getting back to tech I did witness former leader FFIV that recently put up its third consecutive nasty earnings reaction dropping 8.2, 7.5 and 7.2% on 1/26, 4/27 and 7/27 respectively, and ELLI slumped more than 17% last week too. Perhaps one other negative is the emergence on the energy names which has been a big overall laggard this year, but sentiment did get very soft and lets see if this nascent move can hold up, or if it is another dead cat bounce. Below is the chart of TSO and how it was profiled in our 7/5 Game Plan. Now it is stalling near the very round par number, not surprisingly, but has gained ground on a weekly basis 12 of the last 14 (the 2 down weeks in that span were both off less than .6% and were accompanied by weak trade). The emerging energy strength seems to be talked about incessantly these days which could be a negative. Looking for the road less travelled, the financials seem to be acting well even in the face of fewer interest rates increases the rest of the year and that could be something to keep an eye on. The retail group is also perking up in spite of higher energy prices as well which used to act inversely. Plenty to entertain ones attention as always. Feels good to be back from marriage/honeymoon.