Tag Archives: market lab report

Market Lab Report – Premarket Pulse 7/22/15

Major averages fell yesterday on mixed volume. AAPL is gapping lower by about 7% after a disappointing earnings report causing NASDAQ futures to drop by -1.5%. S&P 500 futures, meanwhile, are off -0.5%. Such general market pullbacks can present buying opportunities in individual stocks but only in the right names that are positioned just right. Whether AAPL is in such a position remains to be seen, but the bottom line is that today’s opening weakness was clearly signaled by the severely lagging breadth seen over the past few days even as the NASDAQ pushed to an all-time high this past Friday. Caution is advised, and if one attempts to buy into this decline than one should only do so in a name that is in a low-risk position within its chart. Such a position would be defined by a major area of support or a key moving average, which can then serve as a reference point for a very tight stop. Ambulatory surgery center operator AMSG had an upside reversal pocket pivot, closing on its 50dma. Sales are soaring, pretax margin 23.7%, group rank 16.

Market Lab Report – Premarket Pulse 7/21/15

Major averages rose yesterday on lower volume as expected after an options expiration day. The NASDAQ Composite closed at another all-time high as we continue into earnings season, but breadth has remained negative over the past two days with losers outnumbering gainers by about a 2 to 1 margin. Much of the NASDAQ’s move to all-time highs has been a function of a narrow group of big gap-up moves in a number of super-cap stocks over the past few days including EBAY, GOOGL, and NFLX, while continued upside in names like FB and PCLN has also contributed to the index’s rise. Wearable camera and virtual reality company GoPro (GPRO) had a pocket pivot breakout yesterday. While the breakout is out of a low handle, this company is positioning itself to be a potential leader in the virtual reality (VR) space. This is a speculative play since the company’s technicals are off-the-bottom and its industry is highly competitive since much growth potential lies ahead. Nevertheless, GPRO blew the doors off estimates on its last earnings report. GPRO is due to report earnings today, so keep an eye on this one.

Market Lab Report – Premarket Pulse 7/20/15

Major averages rose Friday on higher volume with the NASDAQ Composite closing at new all-time highs and up the most due to favorable earnings reports from tech heavyweight Google (GOOGL) which helped other substantial NASDAQ stocks rally including Illumina (ILMN) and Priceline (PCLN). Another tech heavy, Facebook (FB), also had a gap up. Stocks such as GOOGL and FB could be considered potentially buyable gap ups as they are tech leading heavyweights, but the speed of ascent may be slower than our normal type of buyable gap up. GOOGL’s market cap stands at $478 billion and FB’s at $267 billion. Nevertheless, they could be considered actionable if either meets your risk tolerance profiles. That said, both may rise in a back-and-filling manner. Gold hit new multi-year lows even though China’s supply of gold came in lower than expected. That said, China is vying to get the IMF to include its currency as a reserve currency as it challenges the hegemony of the US dollar, so that could have far reaching implications. With all the cross current in play regarding the price of gold, it is best as always not to try to out think the markets, and focus on the technicals. Commodities in general are also heading lower once again as they approach multi-year lows. The global economy’s woes especially in China imply slackening demand for commodites, thus the lower prices. As we have had a number of strong, actionable names over the past week as the market bounced higher, do as we have advised all year by taking profits when you have them in context with the overall chart, and keep stops tight. In this market, stocks take the elevator up and the trap door down.