ChartSmarter Monday Game Plan 5/15/17

Markets once again were very flat Friday to end the week and the Nasdaq eked out a fractional gain. The tech rich index is now higher 8 of the last 10 sessions and all but one CLOSED at or in the top of the daily range, a very bullish sign (the one day it did not it finished in the middle on 5/9. For the week it recorded its fourth consecutive weekly gain rising .34% and when it goes on streaks like this the last 2 times continued further with a 6 week winning streak ending between 1/27-3/3 and an 8 week streak ending between 7/1-8/19/16. The S&P 500 lost .35% for the week and on a YTD basis is lagging the Nasdaq by half advancing 6.8% in 2017 while the Nasdaq is steaming ahead by 13.7%. It is on pace for a sixth straight yearly gain and that has been in nearly 3 decades. Friday witnessed just 2 major S&P groups positive and leading today were the utilities with the XLU adding .5%. The ETF is higher 5 of the last 6 weeks, but the combined gains are less than 1%. The only other sector to gain ground was technology with the XLK higher by .2%. The sluggish week may have been a bit weaker than it first appears as there was just 2 groups to advance on a weekly basis as well and that was technology and energy (utilities were UNCH). Interestingly on a one, three, six month and one year timeframe technology leads in all of them. With all the chatter about positives here in the first paragraph, lets keep things balanced and examine stocks that have not participated in the recent broad rally. A name that fits the bill there is TSCO. Below is the chart and how it appeared in our Wednesday 5/10 Game Plan. It is yet another stock that illustrates whether in an up or down trend, they tend to persist a lot longer than one thinks.