Fishing in Shallow Waters

Working our way through the New York lunch hour, we have another fairly slow day on our hands. Good action in the precious metals and miners, as well as materials in general, are outpacing the lagging biotech and "FANG" stocks. The net result is a mixed bag, with volatility staying soft. 

One of our key for this afternoon is the 30-minute chart of the SPY, the S&P 500 Index's ETF, seen below. This look enables us to keep our analysis simple and not get too bogged down in the minutiae. 

If the SPY holds over $198.10 now, the 20-period moving average on this timeframe (orange line), it is tough to see index bearish bets or long volatility plays making much headway. So despite reversals to red this morning in many areas of the market, thus far is a benign drift sideways overall. 

Separately, long-term extended names like COST and KR look to finally be showing more signs of their age, which eventually will see me stalking shorts there once the rally in equities can offer up a bit more evidence of cracking. 

More in my usual Midday Video for Members, coming up.