The markets have chopped around so far this week, but are still hovering just off all time highs. The S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) finds itself just a few pennies off all time highs and remains in a steady trend higher. For the past few weeks the SPY has made very little progress but with gains over 10% on the year, you don't hear many investors complaining.
The Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: QQQ) started the week by selling off but has since recovered those losses. This index has been the most volatile and continues that this week. With the wild movement of tech names this week, the volume has been slightly higher on the QQQ, and investors continue to wonder if they should be in or out.
Mexico (NYSE: EWW) has seen weakness this week which has caused shares of the EWW to fall to new 3 month lows. After spending a few weeks in a very slow downtrend, the sellers finally pulled the plug on Wednesday, sending shares lower by almost 2%. For the year the country ETF has enjoyed healthy gains of over 22%. Technical traders seem to be focused on the 200 day moving average as a good buy point for the long term. Prices would need to drop another 6% to reach that area.
Consumer Staples (NYSE: XLP) have moved to new, 7 month lows this week on higher than average volume. After spending the summer in a wide range, the bears won the battle and shares are lower by just over 1% since breaking down. For the year the ETF is still higher by 4%, under performing thanks to a stronger economic outlook.
Finally, Gold (NYSE: GLD) continues to be in a short term bearish mode. This week it has completely erased Monday's gains and is now negative. Short term traders seem to think this area around $122 is a temporary floor but it remains to be seen. Recently gold broke out of a 4 month range which has caused many technical traders to want to buy this pullback.