The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index posted its 12th straight advance, and its last winning streak that long ended on January 8, 1992.  The Dow Jones Industrials rallied to their first close above 9,000 since January. Better-than-expected profits at some of the nation's biggest companies also lifted the market.  The biggest gainer among the blue chip index's 30 stocks was 3M Co. (MMM +7.36%), makers of Scotch tape and Post-it Notes, gapping up and rising impressively on heavy volume even after its latest earnings report for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 showed lower sales (-15%) and earnings (-14%).  Hershey Co. (HSY +7.32%) gapped up after reporting a solid earnings increase (+48%), but its sales revenues growth rate has continuously been lackluster. Meanwhile, NVE Corp (NVEC +14.88%) was highlighted in yellow in Thursday's Mid-Day BreakOuts Report (read here) after it gapped up for a considerable gain on heavy volume following news of stronger sales revenues (+41%) and solid earnings increases for the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

News on the mergers and acquisitions front also helped to entice investors into buying.  Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY +2.81%) announced plans to acquire Medarex Inc. (MEDX +89.17%) for about $2.1 billion, the latest in a string of acquisitions by the drug maker. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN +5.72%) agreed to buy Zappos.com Inc., a privately held online shoe store, in a deal worth about $850 million.

PICTURED: The Russell 2000 Small Cap Index rallied above its June highs to its best level since November 2008.  Technically, that is an encouraging sign, especially due to the fact this investment system is most focused on finding high-ranked small-cap stocks with superior fundamentals and strong technical price/volume patterns.

Charts courtesy www.stockcharts.com

PICTURED 1: The Retail Index ($RLX +2.71%) posted a solid gain and rallied to a new 2009 high, which is an encouraging sign from this influential index.

Charts courtesy www.stockcharts.com

PICTURED 2: The Broker/Dealer Index ($XBD +3.19%) also posted a solid gain and rallied to a new 2009 high.

Netease.com Inc (NTES -$0.21 or -0.69% to $43.39) closed with a small loss on light volume today, breaking a streak of 10 consecutive gains that helped it get extended from its latest base. Its color code has been changed to green after an impressive winning streak was capped off with a considerable gain yesterday on +52% above average volume that lifted it well above its "max buy" level.  After enduring some distribution, but finding support near its 50-day moving average line, it began rebounding toward prior chart highs.  Its color code was changed to yellow with a new pivot point cited in the 7/17/09 Mid-Day Breakouts Report (read here). That day's breakout from a 5-week flat base came with only  +44% above average volume behind its gain, below the guideline for a proper buy signal. The stock was extended more than +5% above its pivot point by 7/22/09 when a gain finally had more than the minimum +50% above average volume.  That illustrates how making a disciplined entry was quite challenging or impossible for investors.  However, patience may allow shares to be accumulated on light volume pullbacks toward prior chart highs in the $38 area which are now a very important technical support level to watch.

The number of top-rated funds owning an interest in its shares increased from 18 in June '08 to 78 in June '09, which is very reassuring news in respect to the I criteria. NTES was first featured at $26.75 in the 3/31/09 Mid-Day Breakouts Report (read here).  This high-ranked Chinese Internet - Content firm was also summarized in greater detail including an annotated graph in the April 2009 issue of CANSLIM.net News (read here).

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.