It's a Small Town Throwdown

We have a sleepy summer Friday tape on our hands this morning, with post-earnings strength in leaders like ACIA and NVDA being slightly overshadowed by soft retail sales this morning. 

I am not in a rush to put on too many new trades thus far, given the slow action. But I am not going to fall asleep at the switch, either, if the market does sneak in some Friday afternoon moves while many are already off enjoying their summer weekends. 

At the moment, the small market capitalization issues in the Russell 2000 Index are green and trying to do the heavy lifting versus the S&P and Nasdaq. 

If the small caps can throw down here and display some grittiness I am open to the idea of them outperforming in the near-term. Accordingly, we have some retail small cap ideas in mind, in particular. 

On the 30-minute IWM chart, below, the ETF for the Russell shows a consolation consisting of higher lows but lower highs by price since last Friday's jobs report gap-up. 

A move back over $122.50 should get the ball rolling for bulls, whereas back under $121.50 would be a fairly weak way to head into the weekend.