Leaders Index 4-16-20

[Jerry Samet]

The market put in a solid session today. The major averages opened higher and then traded up and down for most of the remainder of the day. Late strength saw all the major averages close at or very near their intraday trading highs, a positive sign. The real strength was again in the Nasd averages with the COMPQ and the NDX gaining 1.66% and 1.93% respectively. The SPX was higher by .58%. The greatest gain was also again in the semiconductor stocks as the SOX rallied 2.61%. Volume was mixed. It was lower by .64% on the New York and higher by 20.18% on the Nasd. Leading stocks rallied as well with the leaders index gaining 3.08%. The index closed high in its trading range on higher and above average volume. This is a new high for the index on both a closing and an intraday basis. The market acted well today. It opened strong and after some selling came in and it looked like the rally might reverse it found its footing and rallied into the close. The Nasd averages were very strong as the semiconductor stocks and many large cap tech stocks rallied and produced real gains. The Nasd averages are now comfortably above their longer term moving averages which should now provide good support. The New York averages are lagging because the new leadership is clearly more concentrated in the Nasd averages. The market is acting like it wants to go higher. We can’t know how far it will go, but short term the direction appears to be up. Jerry