Great Expectations

Dip-buyers were soundly stuffed for virtually all of today's session, the first time the have seen that happens on this type of level in quite some time.

And yet expectations remain high for bulls. You still get the sense that an abrupt rally can materialize at any moment and take us back to new highs, rather quickly, effectively trapping a new batch of bears. 

But with NVDA earnings tonight, we can also see that, realistically, expectations are high all the way around.

Specifically, the NVIDIA monthly chart, below, shows just how much ground to the upside this monster chip winner has covered in the last two years. 

One has to wonder at this point what type of good news and earnings beat is not yet priced in to the stock. 

Either way, we have been rather defensive for a few weeks now. And today is certainly not going to change that posture, even if the many calls for oversold equities and an overbought VIX are reaching a crescendo into the bell--Some more August disappointments for bulls would, ironically, be better off in terms of resetting some charts and sentiment measures for a rally later in the year, anyway.