Stocks Stay Stuck in Neutral

Rather than pigeon-holing another middling market session as a "win" or
"loss," it's probably more useful to keep in mind that stocks have
completed a fifth day in a trading range of less than 1% and nothing that has
taken place in that time has had much effect on stocks. On Thursday, another
Japanese earthquake/tsunami warning, oil crossing $110 a barrel, and an
interest-rate hike by the European Central Bank were no match for the ability of
stocks to, well, move sideways. For the official record, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average slipped 17 points to 12,409, the Nasdaq dropped 4 points to
2796, and the S&P 500 fell 2 points to 1334. As always, there were some specific
takeaways: small-cap stocks underperformed, with the Russell 2000 Index losing
0.5%,  which at least creates a thimble-full amount of skepticism that the
market's momentum-driven rally can just take off again. And it wasn't as if
$110-a-barrel oil took no victims – the usual suspects, airlines and autos,
took it on the chin, as the question of whether the tipping point in oil prices
has been reached is less important than becoming more certain that one exists.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV ) fell 2.9%, AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR ), parent of
American Airlines, dropped 2.3%, General Motors (NYSE: GM ) and Ford (NYSE: F
) slipped 1.1%. The sluggishness in large-cap Nasdaq stocks and financials,
also continued, with the pride of the Nasdaq being tech stalwart Bed Bath &
Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY ), which jumped more than 10% after a strong profit report.
On the other hand, it's hardly time for the bears to crow (if bears do, in
fact, crow). Considering the shoulder-shrugging at another Japanese earthquake
and oil price runup, the buy-the-dip mentality is hardly dead. Bonds were
essentially flat, reversing no trend in the recent rise in yields, while
commodities boomed – coffee futures rose nearly 3%, for what that's worth.
Perhaps the largest takeaway of Thursday is that much of the recent positioning
in stocks has taken place without the strong conviction of traders – 12 of the
last 14 sessions have been below average, in terms of New York Stock Exchange
volume. With traders on the sidelines awaiting … earnings, higher/lower oil,
something… the rangebound trade looks to continue.