Muted Trade, Nibbling on Strong Sectors

Another choppy but muted trading day in the S&P 500 ($SPX). Granted the large-cap index dropped in early trading, but as usual rebounded into positive territory by noon. It then traded around break even.

This was the theme for all the major indices small-caps ($IWM) which finished the day with only a small loss, -.30 percent.

Two sectors that I have on my radar, nibbling on some short-term bullish swing trades, are Banks and Energy. In the Banking sector both Large Banks ($KBE) and Regional’s’ ($KRE) were up around 1 percent. I have large-cap banks like Chase ($JPM) & Citizens ($CFG), and on the smaller regional side, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. ($TCBI) and Cathay General Bancorp ($CATY).

Energy sector got a boost from oil as the USO Oil Fund ($USO) and US Brent Oil ETF ($BNO) popped over 2 percent. Both have these sector ETFs have bullish technical flags working. I will be looking for breakouts to the upside opportunities.

Have a good trading day.