Prices moved higher for the second day in a row: the NASDAQ gained .96 percent, the S&P500 rose .41 percent and the DJIA was up .06 percent. Yet except for the NASDAQ the other two indices remain below the levels of last Thursday.
Todays pattern traces closes over the last four days; the last two finished higher, the previous two closed lower while prices on the session before that increased. This action is summarized by the abbreviation +2/-2/+1.
The record shows 29 such closes since 1950 with 16 crossing the tape after January 2000.The average gains of all three indices in that series, however, exceed todays. Those NASDAQ advances ranged from .34 to more than 6 percent, with the mean of 1.67 percent, almost twice todays.
If tomorrow follows past results for this pattern, expect the NASDAQ to decline since its next day performance was 13 losses and just 3 increases. The DJIA and the S&P500, moreover, provide no guidance since their record stands at 8 losses and 8 advances.
The projection for today came in on target, since advances on the next day outnumbered declines.
A further point most of the 16 previous repeats of todays pattern happened while prices were on an upswing.
DJIA .06 percent NASDAQ .96 percent S&P500 .41 percent