The indices had a quite negative finish not only to the session but the week, and they went out with a 4-day downtrend, near the lows for the day, particularly on the Dow and S&P 500. The day started out with a very sharp move lower after the employment report. They bounced around and then edged up slowly in bear-flag fashion for the next 4-5 hours. In the last hour or so when they failed at the declining tops resistance going back 4 days, they rolled over in a 3-wave decline and closed at the lows for the afternoon on the Nasdaq and the lows for the week on the S&P 500 and Dow.

Net on the day the Dow closed just under 8600 at 8599 and change, down more than 143. The S&P 500 at 890 and change was down 19.38, and the Nasdaq 100 at 1223 was down 29.51. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 7.28 today, a loss of 3 1/2 percent, closing at 215.28.

The technicals were negative by 22 to 9 on advance-declines on New York and by about 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 6 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of just under 1.2 billion. Nasdaq traded a little over 1.9 billion and had 3 1/2 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed with more point-plus losers than gainers. The stock of the day to the downside was Rambus (RMBS), which got hammered on a negative court decision, dropping rapidly from 18.65 mid-day to 10.25 at one point, closing at 11.24, down 7.26 on 35 1/2 million shares.

Apple (AAPL) dropped 2.12 today, and Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) got hammered for 4.40 at one point, reaching 20 but snapping back to 23.72, still down 2.07 on the day on 2 1/2 million shares. Sequenom (SQNM) gave back 1.38 to close at 23.02. Net 1 Ueps Technologies (UEPS) lost 1.06 to 12.95. Continental (CAL) dropped 1.21 to 20.37 in a weak airline sector. UAL (UAUA) was down 53 cents.

On the ETF front, the Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) was down 2.49, the Ultra Oil & Gas ProShares (DIG) 1.67, iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) 1.07, and the Ultra QQQQ ProShares (QLD) 1.28.

On the plus side, DryShips (DRYS) had another fantastic day, reaching as high as 17.20 at one point, but closing at 16.58, up 1.45 on 27 1/4 million, but still a terrific performance on a negative day like today.

The short ETFs on our board were up only small fractions, except for the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) which gained 3.24 to 58.93, and the Ultrashort QQQQ ProShares (QID) up 2.26 to 55.29.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the day consisted of a 3-leg decline, with a very sharp decline at the opening and a tedious multi-hour advance that appeared to be a bear flag and did roll over in the last hour to confirm those flags, closing at the lows for the week on the S&P and Dow.

So a negative way to end the week, and we'll see if the trend continues starting early next week. But right now the short-term trend is down, although the intermediate-term still remains up.

Good trading!

Harry

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