Mmm. Mmm...Bad!

3M Company (MMM), a diversified holdings company and Dow Jones Industrial Average component, is weighing heavily on the Dow this morning after selling off more than 10%, post-earnings. As I write this, the Dow is trading lower by roughly 1%, while the small caps are quietly lower by more than 1.3%. However, tech is flashing signs of relative strength, thanks in part to both FB and MSFT rallying nice after earnings of their own last evening. 

Thus, we have a bit of a tug-of-war taking shape right now, with the MMM...mmm...bad! Dow versus growth tech relative strength.

And I suspect, once again, the small caps could be the key piece of the puzzle.

Mind you, it is likely not necessary for the IWM to flip green by session's end for bulls to prevail today. Instead, they likely need the small caps to stabilize and simply stop going down, once again bouncing off their 50-day moving average, which is actually being tested as we speak. 

I am also looking to see which biotechs can continue to stand up to any market weakness. We know bios have been lagging for weeks now. But GBT, a hot play for a while now and a name I am holding long inside Market Chess Subscription Services, is looking sharp this morning with earnings on May 6th. 

Should we see even names like GBT falter, though, it would almost assuredly signal there is too much supply in bios to think about dipping into the sector anytime soon. So you may as well use it as a "tell" even if you are not trading it.