The Nasdaq helped to keep breadth positive today but it was a day for stock picking rather than riding the indices. The DJIA struggled and the S&P500 was negative, but the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) and Nadaq 100 ETF (QQQ) finished in the green.
If you stuck with big cap technology names and some of the chips you likely did well. There were some exceptional pockets of strength like Casa Systems (CASA) and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) , but it was a fairly narrow selection.
While there was some good price action and not big change in the indices from a technical standpoint, you have to wonder what the next market catalyst might be. We don't have any major earnings news or announcement from central bankers but we do have the Congressional special election coming up in Pennsylvania Tuesday that is likely to be seen as a referendum on President Trump. It is the sort of event that allows for algorithms to react and I believe that will happen. We'll discuss that further tomorrow.
Right now we have a complacent mood and some generally good price action. It is the sort of action that creates fear of being left out and often leads to an extended market becoming more extended. It is going to take some sort of news event to trigger a reaction and the election tomorrow night looks like a good candidate.
Have a good evening. I'll see you tomorrow.
