Stocks Can’t Hang On to Gains

February 12, 2008

Don’t let today’s final numbers fool you. Yes, the S&P finished up and so did the Dow, but the major gains that we saw in the early going was diminished to a mere average day in the market. The Dow which is comprised of 30 stocks, and weighted by price, was catapulted by the significant gains in a handful of stocks. News that Buffet was coming to the rescue lifted the spirits of investors and remained the hot news piece of the day, but enthusiasm for the bailout, quickly faded and investors began to take profits from the past few days. As a result, the indices closed the day in mixed fashion, with the NASDAQ (yesterday’s leader to the upside) finishing just barely in the red.

We will be watching closely tomorrow to see just how the market responds to today’s action, as the news we saw should have catapulted the markets to much higher levels than it did.

Let’s review the charts…

The NASDAQ was the only index of the Big 3 to close in the red, though it is more appropriate to say that it closed flat (down .02 points!) While up much of the day, the index bounced off of minor resistance levels at the gap from 2/5 and sold off thereafter.

While the S&P fared much better, the day saw much of its gains erased as the afternoon kicked into full gear. It is still trading in a bearish channel, and until it can break out of it, we are going to be extremely hesitant to declare a bottom in this market.

We are currently working on adding a new feature to the website called the “Shareplanner Stock Screener”. We believe that this feature will give our readers more tools at their disposal and ideas for various types of stocks to trade and invest in regardless of the market conditions. Stay Tuned!