By Robert W. Colby, Senior Analyst TraderPlanet.com

Financials led the way to lower stock prices

Short-term technical momentum oscillators turned negative for major stock price indices.

Small Caps continue under pressure.

Utilities Sector price and relative strength both moved up to new highs.


On Tuesday, major stock price indices gapped lower on the open, turned choppy, and finally closed lower than the open and near the lows of the day.

NYSE volume fell again, suggesting increasing uncertainty and hesitation.

Financial stocks led the way lower as analyst downgrades of brokers stimulated worries about the ongoing credit crisis.

Breadth ended 30% net Bearish, with more Declining stocks than Advancing stocks on the NYSE.

Up-Down Volume finished the day 41% net Bearish, with greater Down Volume than Up Volume on the NYSE.

New Highs-New Lows on the NYSE ended at 64% net Bearish.

Spotlight on event stocks: Here is a stock screen I designed to pick out potential “event” stocks, both Bullish and Bearish. Sometimes, stocks with large changes in price and volume are revealed to be deal stocks, sooner or later, or are the subject of some other extraordinary events, positive or negative.

Bullish Stocks: Rising Price and Rising Volume
% Price Change, Symbol, Name

19.40% , AZO , AUTOZONE
0.86% , IDU , Utilities DJ, IDU
3.61% , MU , MICRON TECH
7.02% , JWN , NORDSTROM
3.03% , GRMN , GARMIN LTD
3.53% , CHRW.O , CH Robinson Worldwide Inc, CHRWD
0.83% , ANDW , ANDREW
2.59% , DDS , DILLARD STK A
2.58% , ADM , ARCHER DANIELS
3.33% , COST , COSTCO WHOLESAL
1.55% , PPL , PPL
1.92% , DUK , DUKE ENERGY
1.73% , NOVL , NOVELL
1.29% , MLNM , Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc
1.83% , PCAR , PACCAR
0.35% , PUI , Utilities, PUI
0.94% , HSY , HERSHEY FOODS
0.99% , EWS , Singapore Index, EWS
0.72% , XLU , Utilities SPDR, XLU
3.85% , AMZN , Amazoncom Inc
2.85% , URBN , Urban Outfitters Inc.
0.11% , PWP , Value MidCap Dynamic PS, PWP
2.13% , HUM , HUMANA
1.65% , VZ , VERIZON COMMS
3.04% , NYT , NY TIMES STK A
2.11% , RRD , RR DONNELLEY SON
0.75% , Q , QWEST COMMUNICAT
0.98% , SO , SOUTHERN
1.29% , D , DOMINION RSCS
1.32% , WAT , WATERS
1.75% , SANM , SANMINA
0.76% , EWH , Hong Kong Index, EWH
0.53% , PRU , PRUDENTIAL FINL
2.00% , EXC , EXELON CORP
2.55% , APC , ANADARKO PETRO
0.55% , IVGN , Invitrogen Corporation
1.29% , TJX , TJX
1.12% , AYE , ALLEGHENY ENERGY
1.65% , SNPS , Synopsys Inc
1.30% , AEP , AM ELEC POWER
2.32% , CC , CIRCUIT CITY STR
1.73% , SYY , SYSCO
0.22% , EWL , Switzerland Index, EWL
1.38% , ED , CON ED
0.87% , RSH , RADIOSHACK
0.18% , PBJ , Food & Beverage, PBJ
1.43% , GLD , Gold Shares S.T., GLD
1.92% , WOR , WORTHINGTON INDS
0.90% , PTEN , Patterson-UTI Energy Inc
2.07% , PMTC.O , PARAMETRIC

Bearish Stocks: Falling Price and Rising Volume
% Price Change, Symbol, Name

-0.78% , IGW , Semiconductor iS GS, IGW
-4.84% , DISH , EchoStar Communications Corporation
-0.81% , PXE , Energy Exploration & Prod, PXE
-1.35% , MCHP , Microchip Technology Incorporated
-5.45% , RIG , TRANSOCEAN
-1.00% , FPX , IPOs, First Tr IPOX-100, FPX
-0.86% , EWU , United Kingdom Index, EWU
-3.13% , RYAAY , Ryanair Holdings plc
-0.57% , JKK , Growth SmallCap iS M, JKK
-0.84% , BHH , Internet B2B H, BHH
-0.33% , EWQ , France Index, EWQ
-0.66% , PKB , Building & Construction, PKB
-3.69% , SHW , SHERWIN WILLIAMS
-1.40% , PWY , Value SmallCap Dynamic PS, PWY
-0.66% , IVW , Growth S&P 500/BARRA, IVW
-4.74% , LEG , LEGGETT & PLATT
-4.13% , RX , IMS HEALTH
-4.34% , MS , MORGAN STANLEY
-3.27% , LSI , LSI LOGIC
-6.21% , LVLT , LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS
-2.80% , TBH , Telebras HOLDRS, TBH*
-2.76% , PKI , PERKINELMER
-4.87% , BSC , BEAR STEARNS
-0.42% , EWN , Netherlands Index, EWN
-0.65% , IWZ , Growth LargeCap Russell 3000, IWZ
-5.14% , GS , GOLDMAN SACHS
-0.90% , IJS , Value SmallCap S&P 600 B, IJS
-0.69% , ISI , LargeCap Blend S&P 1500 iS, ISI
-1.09% , JKL , Value SmallCap iS M, JKL
-0.42% , IJT , Growth BARRA Small Cap 600, IJT
-1.00% , JKJ , SmallCap Core iS M, JKJ
-0.55% , VO , MidCap VIPERs, VO
-3.86% , F , FORD MOTOR
-0.97% , PSJ , Software, PSJ
-2.53% , CIEN.O , CIENA
-0.51% , PIC , Insurance, PIC
-1.89% , EWC , Canada Index, EWC
-3.90% , PWER , POWER ONE
-3.91% , GNTX , Gentex Corporation
-1.07% , EWD , Sweden Index, EWD
-0.85% , VOX , Telecom Services VIPERs, VOX
-2.13% , CVS , CVS
-0.54% , IWB , LargeCap 1000 R, IWB
-0.97% , IWW , Value LargeCap Russell 3000, IWW
-0.83% , KLD , LargeCap Blend Socially Responsible iS, KLD
-4.52% , HMA , HEALTH MGMT STK A
-2.66% , LAMR , Lamar Advertising Company
-0.99% , BDH , Broadband H, BDH
-0.61% , PRF , Value LargeCap Fundamental RAFI 1000, PRF
-2.88% , LEH , LEHMAN BROS HLDG

Sectors: among the 9 major U.S. sectors, 1 rose, and 8 fell.
Major Sectors Ranked for the Day
% Price Change, Sector

0.72% Utilities
-0.03% Health Care
-0.14% Consumer Staples
-0.23% Industrial
-0.32% Consumer Discretionary
-0.38% Technology
-0.60% Materials
-1.02% Energy
-1.85% Financial

Looking beyond the daily fluctuation to the major trends (listed in order of long-term relative strength):

Utilities (XLU) Bullish, Overweight. This defensive sector’s Relative Strength made a new 6-year high on 12/4/07. Price made a new all-time high on 12/4/07.

Energy (XLE) Bullish, Overweight. Relative Strength made a new all-time high on 11/8/07. XLE made an all-time closing price high on 10/16/07. XLE has been strong compared to the S&P since 3/12/03.

Consumer Staples (XLP) Bullish, Overweight. This defensive sector’s price made a new all-time high on 12/3/07, and Relative Strength made a new 6-year high on 11/26/07.

Materials (XLB) Bullish, Overweight. The short-term turned down but the long-term trend is still up. Relative Strength made new all-time high on 11/8/07. Price made new all-time high on 10/29/07. The long-term Relative Strength trend has strongly outperformed since 9/27/2000.

Health Care (XLV) Bullish, Overweight. XLV price moved up to a new 6-month high on 12/3/07. Relative Strength moved up to a new 13-month high on 11/27/07.

Technology (XLK) Neutral, Market Weight. Relative Strength made a new 7-week low on 11/30/07. Still, long term, XLK has been relatively strong compared to the S&P since its low on 7/24/06.

Industrial (XLI) Neutral, Market Weight. Price and Relative Strength have been chopping sideways since 8/3/07. Longer-term trends appear Bullish.

Consumer Discretionary (XLY) Bearish, Underweight. On 11/27/07, price made a new 14-month low. On 11/21/07, the XLY/SPY Relative Strength ratio fell to its lowest level in 6 years. Relative Strength has been trending down since 1/5/05.

Financial (XLF) Bearish, Underweight. XLF underperformed substantially on Tuesday. The oversold bounce in late November is history. XLF price hit another new 2.5-year low on 11/26/07, and the XLF/SPY Relative Strength ratio fell to its lowest level in more than 7 years on 11/26/07. Relative Strength has been trending down since 2/20/07.

Foreign stock indices were mostly lower but still outperformed U.S. stock indices. The EFA (the EAFE, international developed country stock markets, ex the U.S. and Canada) made a new price high on 10/31/07 and a new relative strength high on 11/27/07. EFA has substantially outperformed long term, since the Bull market started in 2002, and the secular trend is still Bullish. My Top 10 ETF Relative Strength Ranks have been nearly all Foreign for many months.

NASDAQ Composite and NASDAQ 100 underperformed the S&P since 11/7/07. But trends in different time frames conflict. Longer term, NASDAQ outperformed from 8/8/06 to 11/7/07, including a new 6-year Relative strength high on 11/7/07 and a new price high on 10/31/07.

Growth Stock/Value Stock Relative Strength ratio has been in a neutral trend since 11/7/07. The long-term, the main trend for the Growth/Value ratio (IWF/IWD) has been rising since 8/8/06.

Small Cap Relative Strength fell to new lows on 12/4/07 and price broke its August low on 11/21/07. Small Caps substantially underperformed Large Caps since 4/19/06, and so the main long-term trend is Bearish for Small Caps.

January Crude Oil Futures fell to test Monday’s low, which was a new 5-week low. The test held above Monday’s low, but the short-term trend is still down. It is not clear if the 87.14 the low of 12/3/07 can function as support unless it is tested. The next Potential Support levels might be at previous resistance at 84.10, and at previous minor lows in the 78.25-78.35 zone. The U.S. OIL FUND ETF (AMEX: USO) is not a pure play on Crude Oil, although it generally moves in the same direction.

The Energy stock sector outperformed the USO since 11/26/07. Previously, over the 6 months from 5/30/07 to 11/26/07, XLE lagged oil the commodity.

December Gold Futures appear to have entered a correction since their top at 848.00 on 11/7/07.

Silver’s main trend is Bearish compared to Gold. The iShares Silver Trust (AMEX: SLV) has been relatively weak since 12/7/06.

The Gold Miners ETF (GDX) has underperformed Gold Futures since 10/31/07.

Inflation expectations fell steeply and have been moving steadily down since 11/23/07. A new 6-week low suggests that a downside correction may be underway, based on the behavior of the ratio of two ETFs, TIP/IEF.

U.S. Treasury Bonds prices ended little changed. Bonds made a new 28-month price high on 11/26/07. The long-term, iShares Lehman 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond ETF (AMEX: TLT) has been rising since 6/12/07. Bonds remain reactive to news about the credit crisis: the worse the credit crisis, the higher the Bond prices; the better the credit crisis, the lower the Bond prices.

The U.S. dollar eased lower. The 2-day decline has been moderate, suggesting some diminishment in previous persistent selling pressure. Longer term, the dollar fell 19% from its high of 92.53 on 11/16/05 to its low of 74.65 on 11/23/07, moving it into “oversold”.

Daily Rankings of Major Global Markets, Ranked from Strongest to Weakest of the Day:

1.22% Retailers
0.99% Singapore
0.92% Swiss Franc
0.90% Dow Utilities
0.76% Hong Kong
0.72% Utilities
0.71% Spain
0.61% Disk Drives
0.61% Euro Index
0.41% Japanese Yen
0.25% Germany
0.22% Switzerland
0.14% South Korea
0.03% 30Y T-Bond
-0.03% Health Care
-0.03% Italy
-0.07% Dow Transports
-0.07% Dow Composite
-0.08% Malaysia
-0.10% Natural Gas
-0.14% Consumer Staples
-0.14% Computer Tech
-0.23% Industrial
-0.24% Insurance
-0.28% Drugs
-0.30% Health Care
-0.32% Consumer Discretionary
-0.32% Hardware
-0.32% Taiwan
-0.33% France
-0.35% DOT
-0.36% S&P Mid Caps
-0.36% US Dollar Index
-0.38% Technology
-0.41% Nasdaq 100
-0.41% Mexico
-0.42% Chemicals
-0.42% Netherlands
-0.47% British Pound
-0.49% Dow Industrial
-0.59% Gold Mining
-0.60% Materials
-0.61% Health Care Products
-0.62% AMEX Composite
-0.63% Russell 1000
-0.65% NYSE Composite
-0.65% S&P 500
-0.65% Wilshire 5000
-0.66% Nasdaq Composite
-0.66% Russell 3000
-0.66% Commodity Related
-0.68% Oil Services
-0.70% S&P 100
-0.72% S&P Small Caps
-0.72% Internet
-0.73% Value Line
-0.78% Australian Dollar
-0.80% Semiconductors
-0.86% United Kingdom
-0.94% Belgium
-0.97% Hospitals
-0.98% Network
-0.99% Biotechs
-0.99% Oil
-1.02% Energy
-1.04% Russell 2000
-1.06% Japan
-1.07% Sweden
-1.23% Canadian Dollar
-1.26% Brazil
-1.33% Australia
-1.56% Airlines
-1.61% Austria
-1.63% Banks
-1.85% Financial
-1.89% Canada
-2.68% REITs
-2.73% Broker Dealers
-2.75% Paper