If the old saying about how it is dangerous to short a dull market is true, then we should see plenty of upside soon because it isn't much duller than this. It is absolutely dead out there this morning. Breadth is running about 2,300 to 3,800 negative and there are about 125 new 12-month highs.
There are a few momentum plays such as Momo (MOMO) , Pulse Biosciences (PLSE) and Axovant Sciences (AXON) on my screens, but it is extremely limited action. Biotechnology is showing little relative strength and oil is up again, but there isn't much going on with themes.
The pattern lately has been very slow starts and then some later-day strength. That has been so common it may be self-fulfilling. Why not jump in with a tight stop and catch the inevitable afternoon strength? When it stops working things can become quite ugly very quickly, but that doesn't seem to be an issue at this point.
When the market action is this slow, it is very easy to do stupid things. Traders like to stay busy and they will take some questionable setups when there isn't much to do. I often find myself selling things prematurely due to boredom.
So far the dip buyers aren't doing much. We have the reverse of yesterday, with the small-caps lagging while the senior indices hold up better. Until there are some strong emotions in this market, there aren't going to be many trading opportunities.
