Complete Thursday Game Plan 10/24/13

Markets took a slight breather today as both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq made up about half their early losses by the close. The leading index thus far this year was down more than 1% in the morning before launching a lukewarm comeback. The Nasdaq did seem to find a bid near the round 3900 handle. It was certainly hurt by the semiconductors as the SMH was pulled back to the round 40 number, losing 3% in almost double average daily trade. Many in the sector reported today with CREE taking the biggest haircut down 17%. It came within 2 pennies of its 8/13 intraday high, resembling an almost precise double top. It did manage to find some buyers at the round 60 handle. The other big miss came courtesy of CAT. It slumped more than 6%, undercutting both its 50/200 day SMAs in the process. The stock has been under performing notably since the beginning of the year after announcing it was caught up with fraud in China. Perhaps it wished it pulled out of that country like GOOG did. Did not seem to bother their stock price, as it recently surpassed the four digit level. Today it showed true leadership form in the face of some tech weakness rising 2.5% coming within 63 cents of the round 1000 handle.