Slow and Steady Wins the Race or Saves Face

The IWM, ETF for the small cap stocks housed in the Russell 2000 Index, has essentially been fighting all day today to reclaim yesterday's close of $148.16. 

As you can see on the intraday chart, below, we have one of the slowest sessions in February, thus far, with most indices sporting choppy, constricted ranges since the opening bell dip and bounce. It is usually a mistake to overreact and over-trade these types of tapes, as a better option is to wait until the final hour to gauge which side has gained the upper hand for the session, if any. 

That said, the Nasdaq is back to green as I write this, and plenty of individual names we are looking at continue to flash green, too. Bears simply must blunt the bulls' stock-picking prowess here with a weak close today, or else I could easily see a scenario where bulls feel all the more emboldened to buy more aggressively with a follow-through day higher later this week. 

Goldman Sachs and the banks are a pretty good example of what I am referring to, with their sloppy recent action being shaken off this afternoon. GS is green and near session highs, not far from testing its 50-day moving average, just above. 

For now, the slow, grinding session may be helping bulls to save face amid the calming market for today. But the longer we go without a rollover, the higher the risk becomes of more upside.