Sandwiched between a negative DJIA/ positive Nazzy was a 4pt SPX gain and just like Tuesday, it was rebuffed at SPX 1235. Buyers are just not stepping up with no fresh catalysts, while shorts don’t lay out exposure due to upside risk of being homeless at Christmas time. Still, none of this would have been possible today unless the Initial claims came in as it did, relieving fears of a new trend starting after last week’s # and the brutal NFP#.
Today, the market was exhibiting the same recent diverging traits with Financials (BKX >2%), while some materials/industrials related to commodities lag. In all, commodity stocks acted a tad better overall, but still are held back on China speculations.
A good sign in a flattish broad market is traders are finding stocks to cling on for the day. IPO’s (DANG, YOKU ), Earnings (LULU ), Individual positive news (ARB ) or a technical move such as in DJIM’s add-on, HOLI (nov 18 alert) finally breaking out after basing.