Not Much Apple Excitement for Others

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With Apple demolishing even the most bullish of earnings estimates last evening, the temptation for many traders was to extrapolate out that success to the rest of the market. However, when factoring in something like Apple’s beat and positive market reaction, it is important to see the forest for the trees. Despite Apple obviously pulling up the Nasdaq Composite Index this morning, the rest of the major indices are still behaving in a manner consistent with a market that is taking a breather. Even with the continued acquisitions, such as Roche’s huge and hostile bid for ILMN, you get the sense that charts are going through a natural process of firming up.

The good news for patient traders is that, if the bulls are for real, we should see more and more quality entry points present themselves in the coming days. I do not view Apple as a major market “tell,” either way. I traded it on the short side briefly last fall for a gain inside 12631, but I have little interest in trying to call a major top to the stock for any type of “short and hold” strategy.

As today’s session progresses, I am looking to see if my current longs continue to either benignly consolidate or work to the upside. At this juncture, I view either scenario as constructive. Also note that the 1308/1309 level on the S&P 500 continues to hold, even as the market consolidates and pulls in a bit here.