Make the Best of Leaning Leaders

We have some indisputably ugly price action in the "FANG" stocks this morning, led by GOOGL's pummeling as the U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly preparing an investigation into Alphabet’s Google for antitrust violations. In addition, AMZN FB NFLX are all getting whacked and serving as easy sources of liquidity for larger mangers who wish to raise cash. 

On that note, you might dispute whether or not the FANG stocks still amount to the clear market leaders they once were. Indeed, a viable argument nowadays is that the software studs like TEAM and TWLO are the new leaders. 

Either way, we cannot argue with the fact that FANG names remains heavily-weighted in the QQQ ETF, a clear lagging ETF this morning as chips bounce reasonably well (SMH up 1.5% as I write this) off the CY buyout. 

As for standouts, SNAP is back at it again, enjoying an underlying bid during this correction and now trying to break a multi-month base higher, seen on its updated daily chart, below. 

Overall, though, the big test today for bulls will be to try to bring QQQ back to flat or green in the face of FANG damage. If they can, I would consider it a sign of near-term sellers' exhaustion. But first things first and we need to see QQQ build on intraday bounces.