A little opening bounce is being sold hard, but once again Apple (AAPL), Priceline (PCLN), Google (GOOG) and a few other big-caps are serving as a safe haven and covering up much of the weakness. If you look at the Russell 2000 rather than the Nasdaq 100, the market action looks quite different.
Breadth is running about 2-to-1 negative with some slight relative strength in gold and chips. Biotechnology, steel and oil lag.
Most interesting about the action is how abruptly the early bounce was turned back. During much of the first quarter the bounces scared the bears and underinvested bulls, and they would gain more momentum quickly. This morning the sellers took advantage of the brief bounce to unload and/or short, which took us to intraday lows fast. This is definitely a change in market character.
I've been looking for some new buys with little success. Most everything faded fast, and now the trapped bounce-buyers are looking for exits and keeping the pressure on.
If the big-cap technology names turn red it is going to trigger another leg down in this market. AAPL and PCLN are still up, but they are fading -- that has the potential to be a problem.
I'm in capital-preservation mode and am staying highly selective with potential buys.
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