If you were to look at our “Modern Family” of stock market ETFs we follow you’d see a quiet August trading day waiting to hear Fed Chair Powell’s speech.
The Russell 2000 (IWM) fell asleep and closed down for the day firmly stuck in a two-week bullish flag.
The Semiconductor Sector (SMH) edged higher quietly to a new high.
Meanwhile, in the mega-camp tech segment, SaleForce (CRM), announce a blowout earnings report, and panic ensued in a select group of the mega-cap tech names.
As you probably know, the panic wasn’t selling. It was buying.
The buying and the moves it created were so impressive that it felt as if there just wasn’t any money left to buy any other stocks.
Notably, Apple (APPL) was not included in today’s buying spree.
APPL rallied a respectable 1.4%, but its average daily range has been about $12, and today it was only up $7.
Apple’s absence from today’s group of winners fits with an interesting pattern or quality that most impressive movers had today.
As AAPL has been in the spotlight for driving the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) up to new highs almost daily this month, another condition in mega-tech stocks has been developing.
Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Adobe (ADBE), Netflix (NFLX) were NOT consistently hitting new highs. They were consolidating.
Today, that changed. They broke out and ran like they were trying to keep up with Tesla (TSLA)!
Inspired by CRM’s earnings?
Getting ahead of expected bullish comments from the Fed tomorrow?
A coincidence of several technical breakouts that fueled each other?
Playing catch up with AAPL and TSLA?
I suspect a little bit of all of the above.
It will be interesting to see how these moves react to tomorrow’s news, and if the Fed can get IWM to explode out of its multi-week consolidation.
Note: PDL = Prior day low, PDH = Prior day high
S&P 500 (SPY) Looking parabolic. 340 then 335 are important support.
Russell 2000 (IWM) Weak consolidation day. Key area to break is 157, then 160 is resistance area. Support at 155 then swing low is 153.60
Dow (DIA) Inside day, Gap fills at 291. Support at 280.
Nasdaq (QQQ) Looking parabolic. 275 is pivotal support area. 260 is key support level and a trendline.
TLT (iShares 20+ Year Treasuries) Sitting at the bottom of its range 167-163. In a Warning Phase.
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The author may have a position in the mentioned securities at the time of publication. Any opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person or entity.
