The Stock Market's Version of April Showers

"Sweet April showers Do spring May flowers."

Soggy underlying price action in equities continues to be the predominant theme of late, as many traders are understandably frustrated with the senior indices still operating basically right at all-time highs. The growth standouts which suffered harsh corrections this winter have staged mostly anemic bounces, especially relative to their prior rallies and the size and scope of the corrections endured. 

Personally, I remain hedged, short IWM and QQQ, and am starting to slowly take myself out of equity longs which are dripping lower. Whether or not these April market showers usher in May flowers remains to be seen, although I am open to it (from a contrarian standpoint) if sentiment continues to build on the negative side. NFLX earnings tonight may very well give some initial insight as to whether the market is shifting to a sell-the-news regime. 

But, overall, the lagging small caps are perhaps the biggest red flag I see right now. The IWM ETF is losing $220 support as I write this. An while bulls have been stepping in for various stick saves off that levels in recent weeks, they also have made no upside progress of which to speak, despite the risk-on vibe in the likes of Dogecoin which many mistakenly assumed would spill over into the Russell. 

Instead, we have more soggy action which could lead to some volatility as market players go from waiting out the dismal tape to starting to fear a bigger move down--That is the risk, at least, if IWM accelerates below $220 here.