Last week the markets staged an impressive rally that pushed all the broad based indices to new, all time highs. This week so far is just getting started due to the markets being closed on Monday for Memorial Day. After such a strong rally it appears that traders are content to wait for more information before jumping in or out from this point. The SPY is basically flat at this point which leaves many to wonder what event will cause sellers to take their profits or the bulls to load up even more.
The Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: QQQ) continues to be the leader of the pack and was able to make new highs on Tuesday, though just by a little. There is no arguing the strength of the trend at this point and anyone who has tried to fight it has been met with almost instantaneous losses. At this point the Nasdaq 100 is closing in on the 20% gain mark for the year.
Oil exploration stocks (NYSE: XOP) have pushed lower to start the week and are hovering just above yearly lows. Anything oil related continues to be out of favor as investors have shifted money to the broad indices for the "easy alpha". For the year oil is down over 20% due to the strong trends of the S&P and Nasdaq.
Volatility (NYSE: VXX) made new lows again today as investors are just not worried about anything at this point. With the steady gains in the markets as well as sharp rally's to eliminate any losses, there seems to be no reason for investors to hedge with the volatility products.
Lastly, retail (NYSE: XRT) continues to get beaten down but only on average trading volume. While many have the assumption that retail cannot compete with the likes of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), last week Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) was able to show their online resilience. Their online sales surged which briefly caused many to wonder if the XRT is undervalued. For the year the XRT down over 8% and at this point the tide still seems to be lower.