As of 12:30 p.m. New York time today, U.S. stocks had continued their downward move of yesterday.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 was lower by 2.23% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had tumbled 2.35%. The NASDAQ Composite was off 2.44% and the Russell 2000 small cap index had given up 4.41%. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) had slipped 0.53%.
Two down days (that is if today finishes down) aren’t enough to break the uptrend from the March lows. Such a break, in my opinion, and the beginning of a downward bias would require the participation of the big tech stocks that led the market upwards, pulling the indexes behind them.
So far, I don’t see the selling as having much effect on those big tech stocks. But I think they bear watching since a retreat in those names would be a signal that the market is rethinking its advance–or at least part of it.
Today, as of 12:30 p.m., for example, Amazon (AMZN) was off just 0.35%. Facebook (FB) and Apple (AAPL) had taken bigger hits, down 3.34% and 2.00%, respectively. Microsoft (MSFT), another rally leader, was lower by 2.28%
That left some of these stocks above their 20-day moving average, an indication that they kept at least some of their recent upward momentum intact and others just barely below that level..
Apple, for example, traded at $305.22 with its 20-day moving average at $290.90
Facebook, at $204.06, was still above its 20-day moving average at $195.27
Amazon sold for $2363 a share below its 20-day moving average at $2368.
Microsoft at $178.66 was hanging near its 20-day moving average at $177.57.
