We head into the second half of the session with traders struggling to pick a direction as tomorrow's monthly employment report looms. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has spent the bulk of the session in negative territory but the maximum loss has only been 115 points. Given the recent market volatility, today's low-to-high range of 155 points would qualify as a quiet day.
Under the surface though, we find some sporadic movement at the sector level. The SPDR Homebuilders (XHB) and S&P Retail Index (RLX), two of yesterday's strongest groups, are again leading the charge higher. Meanwhile we have some weakness in the oil patch as the US Oil Fund (USO), Oil Service HOLDRS (OIH), and Natural Gas Index (XNG) each lose at least 5%.
Overall, today's action doesn't seem too surprising. We are coming off two solid days of a bounce-back rally and we have a big economic report due out tomorrow morning. That would seem to set the stage for some traders to step to the sidelines.
Chart Courtesy of Thomson Financial
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