After Thursday’s reversal, Friday’s early action looked promising as I left the office before lunch to celebrate my 15th wedding anniversary playing golf with some friends at Foxwoods before the wives met us for dinner and gambling. At least the dinner went well! However, as has been the case lately, opening gaps have often been the high or low point for the day as was seen on Friday as well as on Monday. This is certainly not a sign of great strength. One indication that the pullback is over will be when we get one or two days where stocks open higher and then continue to build momentum right into the close.
With Netflix beating earnings estimates by a wide margin and the financials continuing to beat, stocks look like they want to follow Europe and Asia at the open with another gap higher. On the Dow, S&P 500, S&P 400 and Russell 2000, all we are seeing is traders buying at the lower end of the range and selling in the middle of the range. The NASDAQ 100 remains stronger and the leader, but that too, is digesting.
On the sector front, it’s really more of the same although a touch weaker with semis and transports leading the leaders. The defensive groups, utilities, telecom, staples and REITs remain weak. Healthcare, which falls somewhere in between, has really taken it on the chin as Hillary Clinton’s ascension to the Oval Office has become much more likely lately. That’s also a reason why biotech has fallen more than 10% over the past month.
On the flip side, as I often mention, high yield bonds continue to scrape along just below new highs and the NYSE A/D Line scored an all-time high last month, indicating widespread and healthy participation in the rally.
Stocks remain in the same pullback mode I have written about for more than a month. While frustrating, it’s not necessarily a bad thing as the resolution should strongly to the upside above 19,000.
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