The only thing slower than the stock market on a Friday in August is the stock market on a Monday in August. We have more slow, choppy action. There are a few big movers like Weibo (WB) , MyoKardia (MYOK) and NxStage Medical (NXTM) , but breadth is running close to flat and there is little going on beyond a few movers on news.
The Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) is lagging, while the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) and the FANG names -- Action Alerts PLUS holding Facebook (FB) , Trifecta Stocks name Amazon (AMZN) , Netflix (NFLX) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) -- are exhibiting a little relative strength.
In a slow environment like this, there is greater inclination for money to flow into the bigger caps, while the more speculative small-caps struggle.
My play on this juncture is to not formulate any grand theory about overall market action. I just want to accept what is in front of me, which is slow summer trading. While there are plenty of theories about what the next move in the market might be, I don't see any advantage to making predictions right now. There is no way to know when the tight trading range may resolve itself.
I'm focusing on a few things, like WB, MYOK, The Trade Desk (TTD) and my Stock of the Week Nutanix (NTNX) . I'll keep on digging for some action, but you can't force it in an environment like this. Market players just aren't going to do much right now.