Although oil is up and interest rates are higher, we have broader market strength Thursday as market players contemplate Friday's June employment data.
There isn't any obvious positive catalyst Thursday, but breadth is running very strongly with around 6,700 gainers to 1,350 decliners. There are only 50 stocks at new 12-month lows and 25 at new 12-month highs.
It feels like there is some fear of missing out combined with index buying that is driving the action. When breadth is this lopsided, it is primarily driven from the top down rather than from the bottom up.
In a normal market environment, I would be a much more aggressive buyer, but we are still in the middle of a bear market, and it has been a mistake to trust momentum to last. Charts still need plenty of work to improve, so I'm not concerned about rushing to put cash to work at this point.
Biotechnology names continue to lead this bounce. Some that I like and have been adding include Veru (VERU) , Sensus Healthcare (SRTS) , LianBio (LIAN) , ClearPoint Neuro (CLPT) , Amylyx Pharmaceuticals (AMLX) , Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (AUPH) , and Humacyte (HUMA) .
My game plan is to keep trades short-term and not be tempted to predict a market bottom. I am quite confident that there will be plenty of opportunities in the months ahead to find attractive entry points. These counter-trend bounces are effective because so many people are anxious to embrace the idea that the worst is over.
(Please note that due to factors including low market capitalization and/or insufficient public float, we consider SRTS to be a small-cap stock. You should be aware that such stocks are subject to more risk than stocks of larger companies, including greater volatility, lower liquidity and less publicly available information, and that postings such as this one can have an effect on their stock prices.)
