A minor day of selling gives the bears a little hope, but the underlying support and strong finish suggest that the bulls are still solidly in charge. Breadth was 2400 gainers to 3050 losers, but there wasn't any major weakness. Apple (AAPL) continues to struggle but that was offset by strength in Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), eBay (EBAY) and others.
Biotechnology stocks attracted speculative interest again, but mortgage service companies such as Walter Investment (WAC), Ocwen Financial (OCN), Home Loan Servicing (HLSS) and Nationstar Mortgage (NSM) managed the best momentum. That group should continue to be of interest over the next few days.
Overall, I see no reason to be particularly worried about the market right now. We are still digesting the gain on the fiscal-cliff deal and there is good dip-buying. The big gain on the first day of 2013 created quick underperformance, which tends to lead to aggressive dip-buying. As long as the market stays above the gap area on the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) chart, I'm going to maintain a bullish bias.
Have a good evening. I'll see you tomorrow.
