The markets continue to make new high after new high despite any Brexit concerns. Its not as though everything is back to fine again, there is daily news surrounding the turmoil in the UK, but investors seem to push that aside. From this point, however we can expect markets and sector ETF's to pick up some volatility. This is due to the beginning of earnings season, and the build up surrounding the announcements from individual companies.
In light of the recent fed decision to leave rates unchanged, its very likely that the banking sector (NYSE: XLF) will see increased volatility. Following the brexit decline the XLF has under performed. Unable to make it even close to new highs as the market, positive earnings from the big banks could be just the ticket to get the XLF's momentum going to the upside. One negative comment, however and the relative weakness traders will be running to short the sector as a whole.
With over 50% of the S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) companies reporting earnings in the next 3 weeks, traders have already begun to hedge their bets. Volume has been consistent as the SPY has marched up to all time highs. This could be an indication of light profit taking, or small hedges on investors' recent gains. Of the last 10 trading days there has been relatively no sign of weakness whatsoever.
In the Gold space (NYSE: GLD) it looks as though traders have begun to take some of their sizable profits, at least in the very short term. Tuesday, Gold, and gold mining stocks suffered their worst one day decline in over 2 months. While this would normally be of great concern for traders, given the "Post Brexit" pop, its safe to say that this is just a round of profit taking as well as bears taking their shot at a top.
While it can be difficult to predict the direction of a market in earnings season, for now at least it seems that investors have little to no concern about the financial performance of their respective holdings.