Market Bounces, Gains Concentrated in ‘Hedge Fund Hotels’

Fifty five percent of stocks were higher on the day, mostly found in banks. Gains were nearly cut by 2/3rds from session highs. Several chinese internet stocks, like WB and SOHU, were sharply higher too. REITs were, once again, marginally higher for the day, which is odd, since it’s a defensive sector. Retail was sharply lower, as the dead mall thesis permeates the minds of traders. The sector won’t die until the last bull (Jeff Macke) cedes it’s over.

Apple’s 1.55% gain, single handedly, rocked both the Nasdaq and Dow higher.

Hey, 3D printing stocks were up again, led by XONE and DDD. That counts for something, no?

Putting cynicism aside, the trannies were higher today too and it’s always a good thing to see the losses stop. So, in that light, today was a great day. I just wished there were better breadth and overall participation in the gains.

Here were today’s median returns, broken down by market cap.

Over $50b +0.35%
$10-50b +0.33%
$5-10b +0.22%
$1-5b +0.21%
$500m-$1b +0.10%
Under $500m 0.00%

As you can see, the gains dissipated as market caps went lower — indicative of risk aversion. Naturally, the 3D printing stocks were the anomaly today. There is a neatly set convoy of stocks, aka ‘hedge fund hotels’, which is leading the market higher.

Here they are, with YTD gains.

AAPL +32%
GOOGL +20%
MSFT +10%
AMZN +28%
FB +28%
BABA +36%

How about this for proof?

Market caps over $50b are higher, on a median basis, by 8% for the year. Everything below $50b is up less than 1%.

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