Markets ended the week in lukewarm fashion with the Dow, Russell 2000 and S&P 500 adding .3% and the Nasdaq rose .1%. The S&P 500 recorded a bullish engulfing candle and continues to gather steam higher following its recent breakout above a symmetrical triangle. Its 50 day SMA is now curling higher for the first time in a meaningful way in 3 months. Next week is key for the Nasdaq as it wants to put to bed any thoughts of a double top with the mid March highs. Its weekly candle looks somewhat like a bearish shooting star, as it finished off intraweek highs, something the Dow and S&P 500 did not do, ending at highs for the week. On a weekly basis it was the Dow that shined higher by 2.8% its best weekly gain in 3 months, followed by the S&P 500 up 1.6, the Russell 2000 by 1.5 and the Nasdaq by 1.2%. On a YTD basis it is still the Nasdaq beaming in the spotlight higher by 10.7, the Russell 2000 by 8.9% keeping the Nasdaq honest. The S&P 500 is up 3.9% in 2018 and the Dow moves back into positive territory after this week with a rise of 2.4% so far.
Looking at individual sectors Friday leadership was suspect with the staples acting best with the XLP gaining 1.2%, followed up by healthcare which rose .5%. Healthcare put in a decent week advancing 2% and is quietly building the right side of a potential cup base as it is higher 7 of the last 9 weeks. Technology and energy were your two laggards on the session with the XLK and XLE falling .2%. Utilities were the only other group to lose ground as the XLU fell fractionally by just 2 pennies. Taking a look on a weekly basis the XLY was your best behaved higher by 3.2% and this Thursday broke above a cup base trigger of 109.44. The materials via the XLB rose 3%, and the financials rose by 2.2%. The XLF did put in a decent weekly advances of 3.6 and 2.8% ending 5/11 and 3/30, but were unable to produce any real follow through, so next week could be key. The ETF is lower 8 of the last 13 weeks and one has to go back to the week ending 12/8/16 to see a week of accumulation.
Retail has been a bit bifurcated with earnings reactions this past quarter, but overall it is easy to spots the winners from the losers. The discretionary subsector has layers within plain retail and footwear has been a bastion of strength. WWW has broken above a cup base trigger of 33/92 the first day of this month. NKE broke above a bullish ascending triangle that aligned with the round 70 number a few weeks back and has gradually made its way higher. SHOO has advanced 10 of the last 11 weeks and DECK is on a 7 week winning streak with the last five all CLOSING at highs for the weekly range and each rising more than 4%. Below is the chart of CROX and how it was presented in our Wednesday 5/29 Game Plan. The stock is on a 5 week winning streak of its own and is sniffing out the very round 20 number after breaking above a cup base trigger of 17.53 on 5/s0 and has acted well POST breakout, just what you want to see.