If you look only at the major indexes, today was a mildly positive day. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed up 0.30%, although the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat. The NASDAQ Composite gained 0.73% at the close and the NASDAQ 100 added 0.77%. The small cap Russell 2000 ended ahead 0.34%
But take a look at some of the frankly outlandish gains in the market’s hottest sectors. It’s not difficult to find gains of 5% or more today
I’m not even talking about the rally in copper that sent First Quantum Minerals (FQVLF) up 3.81% or the 3.13% gain in lithium producer Albermarle (ALB).
These don’t even make my Top 10.
Cyber security anyone? Crowdstrike (CRWD) gained 7.00% at the close. SentinelOne (S) was up 7.50%. OKTA (OKTA) ended ahead 5.12% (See my Trend of the Week video for more on the Cybersecurity sector.)
Or how about huge gains in some of the market’s former momentum leaders. Twilio (TWLo) gained 5.86% today. RingCentral (RNG) was higher by 5.83%.
Or China tech and internet stocks (granted that the gains were in the 3.5% to 4.5% range.) Meituan (MPNGF) was up 4.43% at the end of trading in New York. Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) gained 3.62%.
I think what we saw today was a huge rush back to risk because, after recent weakness that’s where the gains could be found. (And in the case of Cyber Security stocks profits without the risk that the global supply chain chaos would disrupt the delivery of components–there are advantages right now to being a Cloud service company.)
I don’t think that today was a vote that the economy is back in high growth gear, what the disruptions from the Delta variant are over, or that we’re ready to “party” from here. I’d note that shares if American Airlines (AAL) closed down 3.35% and shares of Delta Air Lines (DAL) took an even worse beating with a drop of 5.76%.
Anything longer than a rally of a day or so still depends on third quarter earnings reports, guidance for 2022, and the Federal Reserve.
The CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) fell 6.50% to 18.56. That’s looking to me like a cheap way to add volatility protection to the downside.
