Technical analyst Dave Chojnacki of Street One Financial wraps up the trading week with a recap of Thursday’s action and a preview of Friday’s session, including an update of all the important technical indicators to focus on.
Mixed economic news pushed the major averages to the upside at the open on Thursday. The little rally ended quickly and equities became choppy in a narrow range for the remainder of the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average held on to enough of a gain to close at a new high (21553), however, it was unable to challenge the prior session’s intra-day high (21580).
The Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 were able to close with little gains on very weak volume. It was a bit of a dull session, except for the DJIA closing at a record high.
At the close, the DJIA was up 20.9 points, the SPX added 4.5 points, and the NDX inching up 14.4 points. Breadth was slightly positive, 1.1 to 1, on below average volume. ROC(10)’s declined in the session, but all three major indices remained in positive territory.
RSI’s inched higher, with the DJIA continuing to lead at 61.9. The SPX is at 58.7 and the NDX at 57.2. The SPX MACD crossed above signal, joining the NDX. The DJIA MACD remains below its signal. The ARMS index ended the day at 0.66, a fairly bullish reading.
As noted earlier, the DJIA new closing high was the highlight of the session. The DJIA met resistance during the session near its upper Bollinger Band® of 21561. It remains above its 20D-SMA of 21417.
The NDX held above its 50D-SMA of 5723, closing at 5793. It traded just below its upper Bollinger Band of 5839 in the session. The SPX had its MACD cross above signal which is a positive near term technical signal. It closed at 2447, just 6 points below its record high, and is above its 20D-SMA of 2432. It also found resistance near its upper Bollinger® band of 2452.
FNG (AdvisorShares New Tech and Media) a new ETF, which traded just for the second day, ended slightly lower, after hitting a new high of 20.74.
Near-term support for the NDX is at 5775 and 5750. Near term resistance is at 5800 and 5839. Near term support for the SPX is at 2432 and 2425. Near term resistance is at 2450, 2452 and 2462.
Europe is mixed in early trade, and U.S. Futures are also mixed in the premarket. Major economic reports on tap today include Consumer Price Index at 8:30 am, Retail Sales also at 8:30am, Industrial Production at 9:15am, Business Inventories at 10:00am, and Consumer Sentiment at 10:00am.
The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) fell $0.06 (-0.03%) in premarket trading Friday. Year-to-date, DIA has gained 9.09%, versus a 9.35% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
DIA currently has an ETF Daily News SMART Grade of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #5 of 76 ETFs in the Large Cap Value ETFs category.