The markets have started the week pulling back from their all time highs although just slightly. The S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) finds itself about 1.5% off its all time high set last week. It should be noted that the move lower has come very slowly and with little panic from sellers. Though this week has started with a small sell off the SPY is still higher by 6% for the year.
The Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: QQQ) has also seen the same, slight sell off to start the week but is noticeably stronger than the SPY. For weeks now the tech heavy index has outpaced the S&P 500 and this week seems to be more of the same. The QQQ is lower by a fraction of a percent this week but still remains very close to all time highs. Technical traders have been quite impressed with the strength of the recent rally and the only question is when will the trend come to an end. Until then sellers have very, very little reason to consider taking their profits.
Gold (NYSE: GLD) has grabbed the attention of the counter trend trader this week as it is now almost 4% lower from highs set early last week. The GLD hit the 200 moving average and that was enough to start the selloff. Almost every technical trader would agree that in the short term its likely to see a small bounce. For the year the GLD is still up over 5.5%.
Lastly, the Healthcare space (NYSE: XLV) has briefly pulled back from its vertical rally. Last week we mentioned how the XLV has been straight up almost every day but neared resistance. That resistance was noticed by technical traders and this week they have seen some selling pressure. So far the XLV is down 1.2% since hitting that resistance and may experience more downside selling pressure this week.