Small Bounce Better Than Nothing

The market got a small bounce today. Actually, it rallied very early on, then dipped back into negative territory and looked like it might close down again, but a late day rally brought it back.

The gains among the major indexes were pretty even. Oil and bond yields were both higher today, which is likely what weighed on the market intraday. The higher CPI sparked a selloff in bonds, which pushed the yield on the 10-year up to 5.05%. Gold fell again today.

Banks and brokerage stocks were noticeably down today, despite the strong earnings reports. I like to see these groups go up along with the market, so this bears watching. If the financials don't participate in any upcoming rally, some might question its duration.

The volatility indexes fell today, as option expirations approaches this Friday. But the put/call ratio was again above 1.0. Talk about sustained put buying. At some point, the unwinding of all of these bearish bets will spur some real upside in the market. But one step at a time.
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