Chart of the Week: The Resurgent NASDAQ-100

Technology is back and large cap technology is helping to lead the recent rebound in equities.

Even after a four week rally, 2009 has been mostly a sea of red. In fact, the two headline indices, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 index, are down 8.65% and 6.73% so far in 2009. Neither large caps nor small caps are performing particularly well, with the large cap S&P 100 (OEX) down 8.27% and the small cap Russell 2000 (RUT) down 8.67% year to date.

The technology-heavy NASDAQ has been a very different story, with both the NASDAQ composite index (+2.84%) and NASDAQ-100 (+8.63%) in the green.

In the chart of the week below, I have highlighted the NASDAQ-100 index (NDX), which closed at its highest level since early November on Friday, following a strong earnings report and increased guidance from Research in Motion (RIMM). The NDX is a weighted index of the largest 100 companies in the NASDAQ, as measured by market capitalization. As such, the largest weightings read like a who’s who list of large technology companies: Microsoft (MSFT); Google (GOOG); Cisco (CSCO); Apple (AAPL); Oracle (ORCL); Intel (INTC); Qualcomm (QCOM); etc.

Whether or not the resurgent NDX can continue to rally and retrace its steep drop from September and October will go a long way toward determining if the broader markets will be able to gain enough momentum to also finish 2009 in the green.

[source: StockCharts]

Institutional Interest High in These Nine Large Caps

Stocks of all sizes and shapes are trading up today, but which ones will continue to do well if the market holds up?

In the graphic to the right (courtesy of Yahoo) I highlight nine large cap stocks that appear to be the biggest targets of institutional interest not just today, but when the markets moved up in spurts last week too. Those that made the cut did so on the basis of several price factors and several volume factors. The list consists of five technology names (MSFT, AAPL, RIMM, ORCL, and DELL), two mining/metals stocks (RIO, FCX), and two energy stocks (PBR and CHK). Interestingly, two of the nine companies are based in Brazil.

At the very moment at least, these nine companies look to be at the top of the heap: quality stocks at attractive valuations, with considerable institutional interest. I would expect these names to continue to lead the way in subsequent bull moves.

Note that one company on this list may be somewhat of a special case. Chesapeake Energy (CHK) CEO Aubrey McClendon was forced to sell “substantially all” of his 33 million shares last week to meet a margin call. With that forced selling completed, the stock is bouncing back today.