Stocks are coasting to the second-quarter finish line without much fanfare. The indices are slightly mixed, there is a little reversal of recent rotation, breadth is just slightly negative, and cryptocurrencies are lagging. The popular meme names aren't attracting much interest, but traders are chasing a few names like Intellia (NTLA) , AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) , Beam Therapeutics (BEAM) , and AMMO (POWW) .
It is pretty routine trading, and it is very easy to overtrade if you try to force things. Institutional traders just want to close the books and will probably take a break until after the Fourth of July holiday.
I'm optimistic as I look ahead to the third quarter. Typically the third quarter is the weakest of the year, but we don't need stocks to go straight up to have good trading. What we need is some volatility and a focus on stock picking. Earnings season is going to give us some catalyst, and then we will head into the dog days of summer. Thin markets can be good for trading as traders focus on a smaller group of stocks and create more movement, but they can be deadly dull at times also.
As usual, we have some bears forecasting a market disaster, but overall, stocks are in good shape technically. There have been some very deep rolling corrections, and the rotational action has prevented many stocks from becoming too extended. Even the FATMAAN names have had limited momentum when they do start to lead.
I'll continue to look for some new entries, but I don't expect to see too much as June comes to an end.
