Three Card Monte Market

In front of Apple earnings this evening, equities are doing their best to bide their time in the form of three-card monte type of action. Specifically, the small caps in the IWM noticeably lagged yesterday's rally (and nearly closed red), but are now well out in front of the tape as tech is the laggard du jour. 

As long as this type of three card monte rotation persists, early shorts may be in for a rough couple of days, despite the VIX remaining firm throughout all of this and not yet collapsing into the mid or low teens. 

Also note some retail plays which faded yesterday but are still rather strong overall technically, such as FIVE GOOS OLLI, are back in contention on the long side today as they, too, get a rotation back into them. What impressed me most about retail today is that the Wayfair plunge did not crush the whole group. 

Finally, despite natural gas initially moving down after this morning's weekly inventory report, it is worth reiterating how well the commodity has acted this autumn. Again, a name like RRC still has my eye on the long side.