The major averages ended Monday's session mixed after trading between positive and negative territory as investors digested last week's impressive move high. Volume, a critical gauge of institutional demand, was reported lower than the prior session on the Nasdaq exchange and on the NYSE, offering a reassuring sign that institutional investors were not aggressively dumping stocks.  Advancers led decliners by a 3-to-2 ratio on the NYSE and by a narrower 7-to-6 ratio on the Nasdaq exchange. There were 76 high-ranked companies from the CANSLIM.net Leaders List that made a new 52-week high and appeared on the CANSLIM.net BreakOuts Page, down from the 59 issues that appeared on the prior session. New 52-week highs again overwhelmingly trumped new lows on both exchanges while new lows were in the single digits.

A slew of drug companies tumbled after President Barack Obama gave what appeared to be a final push to overhaul our troubled health-care system.  Pfizer (PFE -0.74%), the world’s largest drug manufacturer, UnitedHealth (UNH -1.90%), the largest US health insurer by revenue, and a host of other companies fell after Obama began a series of road trips to the Philadelphia area today and St. Louis on March 10 to rally public support.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the end of the last bear market that sent the S&P 500 plunging to a 12-year low of 666.79. A follow-through day (FTD) was produced on March 12, 2009 which helped confirm the rally which sent the benchmark average soaring +68% in the span of 12 months. A large portion of that rally was due to the enormous amount of cash fund managers raised during the horrific bear market. The latest study from the Investment Company Institute shows that equity mutual funds are burning through their cash reserves at the fastest rate since 1992. The report shows that cash reserves at equity mutual funds are at their lowest rate since 2007. Cash fell to 3.6% of assets, down from 5.7%  in January 2009. The figures showed portfolio managers are left with about $172 billion in cash following the fastest drop in cash holdings since 1991.

Charts courtesy www.stockcharts.com

PICTURED: The Oil Services Index ($OSX +0.14%) has risen within close striking distance of its recovery high.

Ezcorp Inc (EZPW +$0.17 or +0.82% to $20.99) gapped up today and posted another small gain today with near average volume.  At a new all-time high, it has recently been noted as "getting more extended from any sound base of support."  As previously noted, since it managed to top its 2008 all-time high, no resistance remains due to overhead supply, but disciplined investors avoid chasing extended stocks trading more than +5% above prior chart highs. 

EZPW was featured in yellow with new pivot point and may buy levels noted in the 2/19/10 mid-day report (read here). It followed a negative reversal on 2/19/10 with a considerable gain on the very next session (2/22/10) with twice average volume triggering a technical buy signal.  By the evening of 2/24/10 its color code was changed to green as it had rallied above its "max buy" level. On pullbacks, prior chart highs in the $18 area define an important support level to watch now.

This previously featured Finance - Consumer/Commercial Loans firm was dropped from the Featured Stocks list on 10/09/08, yet it continued to show strong sales and earnings growth (solid fundamentals). Earnings per share increases have shown acceleration along with greater than +25% sales revenues increases in the latest quarterly comparisons (good C criteria) versus the year earlier, and a great annual earnings history (good A criteria). 

Color Codes Explained :
Y - Better candidates highlighted by our staff of experts.
G - Previously featured in past reports as yellow but may no longer be buyable under the guidelines.