The market action has turned sloppy and choppy as the indexes fail to build on yesterday's big bounce. The action is very mixed, but is slipping to the downside as concerns grow over the ability of the buyers to keep things running. Breadth is running around 3,200 gainers to 4,000 decliners and there are very few stocks close to 12-month highs.
One shift in the action that I'm seeing is sharp intraday swings in stocks with good technical setups. Traders are much quicker to take profits very rapidly and then look for new entries. My "stock of the week," Landcadia Holdings (LCA) has been a very good illustration of this, as it has seen large intraday swings every day for the last seven trading sessions.
These intraday swings can be very tough on traders that are finding themselves stopped out of a good trade just as it bounces back. That is the nature of trading at times and it is why it can be important to trade in a variety of time frames and styles.
While this action is looking lackluster right now, I am not seeing any signs that traders are throwing in the towel and heading for cash. They are staying selective, but there is some strong underlying support and good pockets of momentum. I see Spartan Energy Acquisition (SPAQ) moving out as I write.
Another name on my radar now is Vuzix (VUZI) , which makes micro-LED smart glasses that are being used for a number of purposes including surgery and temperature measurement. The stock did a registered direct offering at $4.25 and I'm looking for it to regain momentum over $4.50.
This is choppy action and the bears will proclaim that it is significant, but as long as the stock picking remains active and strong, I'm not too concerned.
