Oil companies led the upside during a relatively mild rebound in stocks today. The big winner? WTI crude oil futures, soaring 3.3% to $70.39 a barrel on news that the U.S. is urging allies to end imports of Iranian oil by the Nov. 4 deadline.
XAmong individual stocks, former Leaderboard name Marathon Oil (MRO), part of the integrated oil and gas industry group, gained more than 2% to 20.70 in slightly below average trade.
The stock, which broke out of a pristine three-month cup with handle base at 18.76 on May 3, is getting buying support at its rising 50-day moving average. See the 50-day moving average on IBD's daily charts. They're painted in red.
During confirmed market uptrends, a first or second rebound off the 50-day line offers a second timely opportunity to buy shares in a market leader. You can also use the 10-week moving average on a weekly chart to determine bullish rebounding action after a pause in the run.
Buy as close as possible to the 50-day line during a strong rebound in price in heavy volume. In Marathon's case, the 50-day line is currently near 20.27.
Losing Steam In The Afternoon
The Nasdaq composite, which got smothered by sellers on Monday and fell nearly 2.1%, ended Tuesday's session nearly 0.4% higher. The leading index had risen nearly 0.9% intraday before gains faded in afternoon trading.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average mustered gains of only 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. Volume fell sharply on both exchanges.
Small caps fared better.
The S&P SmallCap 600 gained 0.7%, recouping less than half of Monday's 1.6% trashing. The Russell 2000 rebounded 0.6%.
Marathon Oil, based in Houston, holds a mediocre 81 Composite Rating on IBD Stock Checkup. But the company is engineering a nifty corporate turnaround. After logging three years in a row of net losses, Marathon is targeting earnings of 80 cents a share this year.
The stock's 13-week Accumulation/Distribution Rating of B- is bullish and indicates that institutional investors are on net accumulating shares.
This China Leader Rebounds
Some Chinese ADRs rebounded.
Baozun (BZUN), a facilitator of e-commerce activity in China, rallied nearly 3% to 56.39 in light turnover, one day after it poked below its fast-ascending 50-day moving average.
Read more about the leader within the software sector in the IBD Sector Leaders column.
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