Bulls Fail At New Highs (For Now) – NASDAQ 100 Leading, Russell Still Lagging
As you know I have been waiting, patiently and not so patiently, for the stock market to print fresh, all-time highs. I thought we could see a quick 1-2% spurt higher that would be more of a selling opportunity than a momentum train higher. So what happened when the S&P 500 as shown below got to the old highs? It drifted quietly back to where it began the day. I would like to see the index close above 6130 this week. That should cause the bears some consternation. I would prefer the index not fail right here and pullback. There is some pre-market strength so we will see if the bulls have any juice to begin the holiday-shortened week.
The sexy NASDAQ 100 is below. It looks more powerful than the S&P 500 but I doubt it can break out higher without the S&P 500 coming along. Leadership is clearly here.
To be fair and balanced, let’s turn to the Russell 2000 where the small caps reside. Doesn’t it look like it’s on a different planet? It looks nothing like the indices above. And it doesn’t behave like them either. But this is nothing new. It’s been a bearish rallying cry for years.
However, when I zoom out and look at several years of the Russell, it doesn’t look so bad. In fact, it appears to be setting up for a major move to the upside. We just have to be patient.
On Friday we bought PCY and EMB. We sold XLE, QLD, some MQQQ and some XLB.
