Stocks reversed course on Friday after a better than expected retail sales report for June. All four main indices opened higher, but all four dipped in to the red shortly after the open and the trend lower continued throughout the day.

The Russell wound up with the biggest loss at 1.24% and it was followed by the Dow which fell 0.86%. The Nasdaq dropped 0.80% and the S&P lost 0.75%.

Seven of the 10 main sectors moved lower on the day with the defensive sectors notching gains. The utilities sector rallied 1.02%, healthcare moved up 0.27%, and consumer staples gained 0.16%.

The energy sector took it on the chin for the third time this week and tumbled 2.75% on Friday. The materials sector dropped 1.51% and the financial sector fell 1.37%.

The scans flipped back to positive on Friday with 33 bullish signals and 10 bearish signals.

With the scans generating a positive result Friday, the barometer moved up to -3.4 from -14.8 on Thursday.

None of the stocks on the bearish list looked like very good setups, so today’s trade idea is another bullish one. Box, Inc. (NYSE: BOX) appeared on the bullish list and it has pretty solid fundamentals. The EPS rating is a 69, but the SMR is even better with an A grade.

The stock has been trending higher since last November, but the part of the chart that stood out to me was the last five months. We see that a trend channel has formed and the stock just hit the lower rail of the channel. The stock is oversold based on both the RSI and the stochastic indicators. The last two instances where that was the case both turned out pretty well for the stock.

Buy to open the September 22-strike calls on BOX at $2.40 or better. These options expire on September 17, 2021. I suggest a target gain of 100% and that means the stock will need to reach $26.80. The target is below the recent high and below where the upper rail is at this time. I suggest a stop at $22.25.

— Rick Pendergraft

Put $1,000 into this stock now [Not NVDA] [sponsor]
The legendary stockpicker who built one of Wall Street's most popular buying indicators just announced the #1 stock to buy for 2026. His last recommendations shot up 100% and 160%. Now for a limited time, he's sharing this new recommendation live on-camera, completely free of charge. It's not NVDA, AMZN, TSLA, or any stock you'd likely recognize. Click here for the name and ticker.