Yesterday, even at the session's high point, the market lacked oomph. Four strong sessions in a row gave way to profit-taking, which rekindled doubts.

It was an eclectic leaderboard, reflecting the big day in gold and individual earnings outside of big tech (XLK).

Weak Breadth & Lots of Red

It was a very weak session with only a few pockets of green. Gold miners enjoyed the best day in a long time.

Factors

There were declines across the board; small-caps gave up the most ground, while small-cap momentum was the hardest hit.

Bounce Stalls

The tech-to-S&P 500 (SPX) ratio has been in a declared pattern for some time, and it is trying to bounce off the bottom of the channel. There is a chance it won’t hold, which will force hard decisions, especially for short-term traders.

Big tech names came under pressure during the session and in after-hours trading. SanDisk (SNDK), Western Digital Corp (WDC), and AppLovin (APP) were walloped after reporting financial results.

Today’s Session

There’s going to be serious carnage in hot stocks and market names this morning.  Interestingly, all the names getting hit had very good to great financial results but maybe missed guidance by a negligible amount.

This is one reason I'm for bi-annual reporting; the hits are too severe and myopically focused on nebulous things like “consensus guidance.”  That said, these extreme reactions create extreme opportunities.

Right now I'm bracing for the jobs report, and while I’m always rooting for “good” news, I’m not sure how markets will react. There is a transparent campaign against Kevin Warsh from an eclectic group that includes traditionalists (they think every hike in wages should be tamed down), financial media, and people that dislike President Trump.