Outnumbered Predators

Bears are feeling like outnumbered predators these days, especially with another early, quick, dip-buy in the Nasdaq off the opening bell weakness this morning.

Indeed, unless and until we see dip-buyers in the QQQ ETF get smacked down a few times it is going to be tough to envision a broad market pullback into Labor Day. Even with NVDA slightly red now after earnings, the sort of fire and brimstone type of selling we need to see remains elusive for ursine-minded traders. 

That said, the financials are acting more appreciably weak than just about anything in tech these days. The reasons may vary, be it Warren Buffett substantially lightening his sector exposure or a general uncertainty about the next true direction of interest rates. Either way, the large cap banks in the XLF ETF, led by WFC, are hitting multi-week lows this morning and continue to fail miserably this week at holding bounce attempts just when dip-buyers seem most inclined to seek rotation into them. 

Given this development, the likes of GS and MS, two banks which had been exuding relative strength to peers like JPM WFC, now become "catch-down" short setups to follow the weak sisters lower. 

On the GS daily chart, below, Goldman seems like a quiet, sheepish shell of its former self. That may or may not actually be the case behind the scenes, but into any further weakness the highlighted daily chart trend support looks rather vulnerable to a fresh breakdown.