The S&P500 (80% of U.S. stocks) hit another All-Time High today. After starting the day down until 10am, the market went up steadily throughout the day. Here is a one-day chart of the SPY (S&P500) (from the tastyworks trading platform).
The following screen shot represents a “heat map” of the S&P500 (from the ThinkorSwim platform). This picture reflects all stocks in the S&P500 grouped together by Sector. Sector names are highlighted in White background with Black letters (i.e., Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary, etc.). Note on the top left, some big tech companies (MSFT, AAPL) are green. Unlike earlier this week, Tech stocks had a strong up day today. While red (down) can be seen in other sectors.
Out of the 500 stocks in the S&P, about half were up for the day (232), while the other half were down (265); per the ThinkOrSwim Advance/Decline line summary chart below…
This afternoon, Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) tweeted a joke that is actually true (see below). In effect, what he is referring to is that during this Bull Market, the market never goes down. There is no two-sided market action. This is not healthy. Inevitably, whenever the market drops the slightest, it pops right back up, stronger than ever. He highlighted, with a yellow circle, the bottom of today’s market.
To recap where the S&P500 stands, here is a five-year view, with each bar representing one-month, clearly at an all-time high. Notice that the last seven months (far right of the chart) are all green/up.
Where does the market go from here? Who knows, really. The trend is still up. However, the market has gone a long time without any kind of pull-back. Personally, I am still the contrarian, going against the grain. This week, I added more short positions, meaning I make money if the market goes down. I am selecting stocks that are at or near their 52-week high. While most investors remain long, I am betting that the market will pull-back a little, if only briefly, before it heads back up. Time will tell. And I will keep you posted.
This has been Marc’s Market Minute. Goodnight!