The triple-digit gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average are getting plenty of play this afternoon, but the small caps in the Russell are lagging behind. I watching $115.10 as an intraday level to see if it holds as support. Below there, and I suspect the selling would intensify.

Other than that, we still have the holiday, slow melt-up feel to the tape.

SKUL is a candidate for a major bearish-to-bullish reversal into next year–Note the weekly chart, second below. A weekly close over $6.70 likely opens up the possibility to test $9.

Also, BBY CLDX are coming on this afternoon, though technically they are not top flight setups.

Drop me your top afternoon tickers.

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BUD DEO TAP are three alcohol stocks  in uptrends with room to push higher into New Year’s Eve festivities, as you can see on their respective daily charts, below.

BEAM has been a disappointing laggard of late.

Also keep an eye on stocks like NTRI MED WTW for New Year’s resolutions plays in the next few weeks.

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Courtesy of The PPT algorithm, here are the most current top five readings from my “12631 RELATIVE STRENGTH” custom-made screen, identifying which stocks are exuding some of the best performances to the market at-large at any given moment.

I look for stocks whose Daily PPT Hybrid Score surges, while the Weekly Hybrid has been negative over the past week. This can often yield stocks which are emerging from consolidations.

Members can click here to view and save the screen.

Sorted for at least 500,000 shares of daily average volume to ensure liquidity.

Please click on image to enlarge.

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The 10-year touched 3% this morning, as bonds have been flopping around like a fish out of water since November.

My thesis had been that bonds were in a new bear market, but I expected a bit of holiday cheer in that market until 2014. However, this morning’s push lower in TLT renders the strength late-last week to be null and void. From failed moves often come aggressive moves in the other direction. But the final days of 2013 in a holiday period seems like an odd time for a fresh bear leg down to come.

The main arguments bond bulls have been advancing center argument negative sentiment and The Fed owning the market.  I am still flat on bonds. But another thrust over 3% this time, with only a minor taper of which to speak would be bearish, in my view.

What is your take on bonds here?

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ARNA is up nicely this morning. Looking at the daily chart, below, you can see an established downtrend for quite some time. However, I am looking at the potential for a cup-and-handle bottom setup dented by the purple lines. A close over $6.70 confirms it and projects a move well over $9.

This is a heavily-shorted, volatile biotech stock with plenty of strong opinions out there. If you play, I would suggest a stop-loss under $5.70.

Elsewhere, WDAY is still on watch for a breakout long.

TWTR and a few momentum names like FB NFLX are squishy today.

Overall, I expect a low volume holiday week affair.

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I am watching BLX and the heavily-shorted ICON for further strength as long ideas this morning.

Note the sound technical setups, below, consolidations within the context of established uptrends.

The Panama-based Banco Latino has been notably outperforming other Central and South American banks like ITUB.

Which tickers are you stalking this morning?

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