It's High Noon Everywhere You Look

A hot PPI inflation reading this morning was initially drowned out by a just-so-coincidentally leak of Fed Chair Powell's comments today where he will maintain a dovish stance. That dovish view is being increasingly challenged by prominent bureaucrats, but they have not yet penetrated Powell's veil of defiance to go ahead and imminent taper, let alone tighten. 

Still, you will notice the small caps fading to red this morning off the open, and this is after a terrible session yesterday. The inability to hold even a modest bounce so far is rather concerning, and likely speaks to the notion that the hot PPI reading (on top of supply chain issues, worker shortages, etc.) is placing even more pressure on small businesses across the country compared to the larger cap ones. This theme could easily be in its nascency and persist quite a bit longer than people are willing to acknowledge at this point. 

That said, the QQQ bounce is holding fairly steady, giving me a mixed bag in terms of my trading plays. I am long TWTR, daily chart, below, in both my trading and long-term accounts. And Twitter looks poised for a new leg higher above $73. But I also am short QQQ and will have to decide how long I want to hold it if there is no fade today. 

Finally, note ARKK red again on a day where it should be rallying with QQQ, if not leading. Underlying breadth in ARKK is poor, too. And if QQQ does falter soon we should look back on this moment as ARKK having been the "tell."