A poor day turned into an OK day, but the good news is that the minor negative action is helpful from a technical standpoint. There wasn't any wild rotation today, but the Russell 2000 fund (IWM) did outperform a little. The Nasdaq 100 fund (QQQ) lagged, but breadth was just slightly negative.
We continue to see some big-cap names that are helping the Dow Jones industrial average. Dow (DOW) , Walgreens (WBA) , Caterpillar (CAT) , JPMorgan (JPM) are all quite solid and near highs. At the other end of the spectrum, Biotechnology (IBB) managed to bounce, and special purpose acquisition companies had some better performance today.
The worst acting group today were the crypto-related plays like Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) , CoinBase (COIN) , and Riot Blockchain (RIOT) . Elon Musk of Tesla (TSLA) deserves the blame for messing with the sentiment there, but it is a group that is always going to trade on emotion.
While the action was a little better today, it is still tough for stock pickers. When a stock does make a move recently, there is a greater inclination to flip into the strength, and that is causing some consternation for traders.
The mild, albeit negative, action today is a positive as it helps to build some support and keeps the bulls in check, but the lack of energy doesn't seem to be shifting, and that is what we need for better stock picking.
Have a good evening. I'll see you tomorrow.
