About to crawl into bed for an early night as a head cold has knocked me out. I will look to put some charts up on Friday to detail the market reaction to the Fed. One volatile day! Fallond

Minor losses on mixed volume; there was a registered distribution day for the NASDAQ , but other indices eased on light volume into the second day of the Fed meeting. But even the NASDAQ distribution day is likely to be overshadowed by whatever reaction comes from the Fed rate decision. Two indices to watch are the semiconductors - which are deep in trouble: and Transports - which are trading a fine line of 50-day MA support, and well off confirming Dow highs: Fallond

TechTarget ( TTGT ) is an interesting stock as the 2007 IPO drifted from its post launch gains, down to the $11s before reversing its losses and breaking $15.80 resistance. It featured to newsletter subscribers in September as it was shaping its right-hand-base. The stock found enough momentum to take it to $18.69 before it entered its current October consolidation, generating a positive back test of $15.80. Technicals are nicely bullish with a MACD trigger line well placed to signal a "BUY" while knocking around well above the bullish zero line. Earnings are scheduled for November 7th and with no overhead resistance a positive surprise could send this flying. Fallond

All eyes are on the Fed this week. Although Monday's action put in a decent gain for the markets, the gains were unable to make much directional headway. The only index to buck the trend was the semiconductor index as it finally logged a positive after lagging the NASDAQ and NASDAQ 100 for all of last week. The NASDAQ 100 remained contained by 2,205 resistance - so the Fed decision will have a big impact on what happens to this index. The Russell 2000 reversed off its 20-day MA, but it didn't come across as a major test of resistance. Large caps [ Dow and S&P ] were unchanged around their 20-day MAs. The other point of note was the reversal back below the 5-day EMA for the Nasdaq Percentage of Stocks above their 50-day MA ( $NAA50R ) . This indicator frequently suffers from whipsaw around this moving average so a positive Fed decision could see this moving average breached once more. Fallond

Bulls kept things going as well as could have been expected given the weak action in the semiconductors. What had the Stockcharters to say about it? Dr. Joe kicked off with his weekly summary: Joe is watching for a potential double bottom for stochastics in the Dow: Maurice Walker has reason for optimism: In the valley where I live there was a man named Gordon Elwood, but all the kids nicknamed him Stan-the-Can-Man. The elderly Elwood rode his broken down old bicycle up and down the streets, digging cans out of dumpsters to recycle for cash. Most people were repulsed by his appearance and assumed he was homeless. He was shabbily dressed and wore second-hand tattered clothes. He used a bungee cord as a belt to hold up his pants. Elwood's bedraggled appearance was a pathetic thing to behold, but mostly Elwood was ignored. He drank out dated milk, eating old bread, and he accepted food hand outs from the Salvation Army. He showed up on holidays at charitable organizations to eat fre...

Very much a repeat of yesterday with the NASDAQ and NASDAQ 100 falling prey to the increasing weakness in the semiconductor index . Large caps [ Dow and S&P ] had a flat close but volume registered another distribution day - the seventh in a row for the Dow . Bulls will look to the 50-day MAs as support for both the Dow and S&P , but even here resistance defined by August-September trendlines remains prominent. The Russell 2000 is testing lower (redrawn) support and is only a few ticks from breaking such support and entering a void of support down to 736 - some 70 points away. Fallond

A sucker punch for the semiconductor index took much of the gloss off end of day buying. This major breakdown in semiconductors will likely end whatever hope the NASDAQ and NASDAQ 100 had at sustaining their rallies. It may only take days, maybe weeks for weakness in the semiconductor index to spread to the tech indices (and eventually to the other indices) - but the worst looks inevitable. Bulls will look to the strong finish as a sign of strength, but even this looks to be a gloss based on the lack of conviction from the semiconductor index . Volume climbed to register across the board bearish distribution - another negative. As for the individual indices, the NASDAQ gave up Tuesday's breakout while the Dow and S&P finished right on resistance - not the kind of form which makes for bullish optimism. It may be enough to switch my third month of bullish optimism back to a cash-is-king opinion. Subscribers should look to my cash:equity exposure to get a better idea ...

A great day for the Nasdaq 100 as it finished on a new closing high for 2007 on heavier volume. Unfortunately, the semiconductor index continued to mess around at support - reducing the significance of this breakout - but at least it looked good. The Trade Ideas scan sided with bulls with a "Top-8" list coming in at 2 minutes and a "20-appearance" list in at 27 minutes . Decent numbers if you are a bull. If you would like to try a full version of the Trade-Ideas software, follow this link for a free 7-day trial. If you are interested in knowing what I do with the "Top-8" and "20-appearance" data I have prepared a report here . Trade Ideas

Fears of a Black Monday proved unfounded as the indices made small gains off Friday's lows. Volume was disappointing and not what bulls would have liked to have seen. The Trade Ideas scan was decently bullish; the "Top-8" pick list covered a respectable 4 minutes , while the "20-appearance" list came in at a very strong 14 minutes . Not bad figures given the disappointing volume. If you would like to try a full version of the Trade-Ideas software, follow this link for a free 7-day trial. If you are interested in knowing what I do with the "Top-8" and "20-appearance" data I have prepared a report here . Trade Ideas

Insulet Corp ( PODD ) dipped into the low $22s before it staged its post-morning rally. The drop was enough to hit the stop to close the 500 share position for a -$755 ( -6.4% ) loss. Three positions remain in the portfolio as market exposure is reduced following the failed breakouts in large caps and the lagging performance of small caps. Collective2

It was a busy close of week for the averages. How did the Stockcharters see it? Dr. Joe offered up his bullet point summary on the week: Joe has highlighted the buy signals for the Nasdaq (but no sell triggers) using the Nasdaq Summation Index: He has a good Dow chart with a MACD histogram overlay (from John Murphy???). Friday's selling didn't completely reverse the MACD - but it looks like it will only be a matter of time before it does: Ted Burge is looking for support with further details available on his website . His 60-min intraday chart for the Dow is interesting as it shows the next level of support down at 13,350: His daily Nasdaq chart shows support at 2,695: While his semiconductor chart has support marked at 472: and the Russell at 771: Jack Chan has marked fresh 'sell' triggers for the Energy sector - although he looks to have changed his opinion from a sell - to a hold - before back to a sell (see some of my earlier reviews): and Gold indices: Maurice W...