It was kind of a lack luster choppy day on light volume that was not good for the break out trading that I favor. The IBM 130 alert worked for a bit, but nice clean set ups like CLX 65, CSX 54, LVS 27, SBUX 28 VALE 28 and VMC 48 either out right failed or worse teased you by chopping around the number. Such is the life of a trader. Regardless know your levels and respect them even if they don’t return the favor some times.
However there were two nice lessons in this mess today. IBM provided a nice example of a break out long. It had a nice base below the alert (130) and then a good burst of volume up through the level.

And VALE provided us a nice example of a failed breakout. A stock that is extended away from any kind of base going into the alert level on light volume and no real news.
















Despite the choppy lackluster action and light volume the SPY is still above the 200 day MA and is most likely headed for a test of the 50 day MA (114.46). The CPI, jobless claims and current account are out before the open but I don’t believe they are going to have any real effect on the open. They are then followed up by leading indicators & the Philly Fed at 10 and the Nat Gas #’s at 10:30. Just be aware.

The levels I put up on this blog are spots I think are significant. Sometimes they are (IBM&VALE) sometimes they are not (CLX, CSX, LVS, SBUX) such is trading. I mention this to reiterate the point that just because I have some thing marked as a break out long or break down short doesn’t mean that it can’t reverse there. Know that these levels could be important and be ready to flip if the market dictates, and always use reasonable stops.

With that said the following ideas could be actionable tomorrow:

crk 34 long

dd 38 long

gymb 46 long

mlm 94 long

mos 46 long

pnra 85 long

vit 23 long

vno 80 long

rimm 63 long

rkt 56 long
I also want to add the following as levels to watch for the future (they are only 1 touch spots right now)

atw 28 long

au 44 long

esrx 54 long

gdx 52 long

paas 26 long