Mark, that was pretty good advice except I took some short opportunities instead.
>Jim i'm keeping quite a bit of powder dry yet didn't not do any buying today
Now, I'm kind of like you. What do you make of this low volume?
>On Tuesday, modest trading volume suggested the rally lacked conviction, despite the powerful gains in many individual tech stocks. On Nasdaq, 1.45 billion shares changed hands, well off the levels of more than 2 billion shares often seen during the first-quarter tech-stock advance.
"The problem I have is: Is this a one-day phenomenon or the building of something?" said Peter Coolidge, managing director of equity trading at investment firm Brean Murray. "We've seen this before--some sharp swings up, only to be met with apathy. It's definitely a market in a state of flux."
Chart watchers say a pickup in volume accompanying further price gains would be the key signal of a sustainable rally.
"We need to see more trading to get a clear trend," Coolidge said. "This is a good start, but that's all."
Greg Nie, senior vice president for technical research at First Union Securities, agreed. "We're lodged in a laborious transition phase" from the spring sell-off to the next bona fide rally, he said. "It's a test of patience and it may continue a little longer.
"Volume is the key--it needs to improve to lead us out of the wilderness," Nie said. |
