After many volatile days sent stocks lower, the markets have attempted to find a bottom. At least for now, the S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) has found enough buyers to help pull it off its low. On Tuesday, the SPY saw a gain of 1.5%, which helped it nearly erase all of Monday's losses. While we're still very much near the recent lows, investors are hopeful that this will help solidify a short-term bottom.
The Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: QQQ) has also gained the attention of the bulls this week but so far it hasn't been able to recover from early week losses. There are a handful of big tech names due to report later this week, which could have a big impact on the final resting place for the QQQ as October comes to a close.
Homebuilders (NYSE: XHB) have had a strong start to the week, seemingly putting in a bottom for now. On Tuesday the sector popped a whopping 5% on much higher than average volume which seemed to suggest a round of short covering as well as some possible sector rotation. Investors will be focused on any possibility of a follow through to close out the week.
The transportation sector (NYSE: IYT) which has been one of the weaker areas has also found some solid strength early in the week. The IYT added nearly 3% on Tuesday alone which erases the last three trading days of losses and starts to form a short term low. Continuation of this will be key to attract more and more bulls.
Finally, volatility (NYSE: VXX) has come off it's recent highs ever so slightly. With the mid-term elections due up as well as more earnings though, many feel that the popular fear index will be hard pressed to come off those highs anytime soon as investors continue to head for the safety hedge.