The broad market opened higher, but a wave of buying took the Dow to a 200-point decline.  The bigger losses were in the NASDAQ, which has seen the best year. Profit-taking is normal, and the buy on dips crowd sprang into action quickly.

I’m not sure what happens the rest of the session.  Obviously, a lot of folks are on vacation so light volume can skew the action even more than normal.

Energetic Energy Sector

For most of the session, the only sector in the green has been Energy.  The sector is very compelling and has been edging higher with a series of higher highs and lows since hitting a double bottom back in August.  The problem is long term, the sector has been a disaster peaking back in June 2014. Rallies have been short lived and pullbacks sharp and deadly.  There could be some trades here, but we are not forcing the issue.

Still, recent action in the sector underscores the desire to find cheap stocks or stocks that haven’t rallied much.  You know cheap doesn’t always mean beaten down, but many market participants only use share price to determine value.

A move through $65.0 would attract non-traditional buyers.

XLE

Fundamentals of Oil Patch

An early rally in XLE stalled when U.S. crude oil inventories began to build.  So, it’s imperative for those numbers to come back down to the lows of 2019. Demand is the other part of the equation.  There is a sense with the global economy probably improving next year, there will be demand.