The NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500 Indexes both closed at new highs on higher volume. The market will likely look to the Fed meeting today to confirm the continuance of QE.
Apple (AAPL) closed above its 50-day moving average on higher volume. As we discussed in our Monday report, AAPL's chart pattern, which had three selling waves, implied a potentially more substantial rally off of its lows. With major averages in uptrends and closing at new highs, former leaders such as AAPL who just reported earnings that did not shock the market in either direction can recover some of their steep losses as they contribute to a continued index-based market rally.
3-D Systems (DDD) had a pocket pivot off its 10 day moving average yesterday after a strong earnings report, as it comes up the right hand side of its base. This is potentially a lower risk entry point for the stock which can be quite choppy. We have reported on DDD in prior reports (see archives).
Fleetcor Technologies (FLT) flashed a continuation pocket pivot point off of its 10-day moving average. Earlier in the day, it appeared that FLT would clear volume for a pocket pivot. In such cases, one could start nibbling on a position before sufficient volume has traded for a pocket pivot, which did occur by the close in FLT. We have reported on FLT in prior reports on www.selfishinvesting.com including FLT's buyable gap up in February 2013. FLT earnings and sales are both accelerating, institutional sponsorship has increased 9 quarters in a row since the company's IPO, and pretax margins are beyond stellar at 52%. FLT does report earnings tomorrow, May 2nd.