The Nasdaq led the way today with a .5% advance, while the S&P 500 closed UNCH. The summer doldrums are in full effect, or are the benchmarks just trying to put the bears into a sleepy state. Tight action, is bullish action, and it seems like this market has had plenty of time to crack. Perhaps Ben will have the ultimate word tomorrow. Laggards normally stay that way, and today that notion was brought to you courtesy of the agriculture group. The sector got hit hard with names like POT MOS SQM all plunging in the 17% neighborhood. Try and look for the silver lining, if you must venture into the field. a stock like RNF may fit the bill. It actually gained today, up fractionally. Pay attention to relative strength, its narrative could be profitable in the future. Just took a look at the some of the world indexes as we are into the second half of the year. The Nasdaq coming into today was up 19.2%, and the S&P 500 18.2%. Observing the BRICs, there could have been some incredible pairs up against our domestic benchmarks. Brazil down 21%, Russia 11.5%, India 9%, China 15%. I am not suggesting a reversion to the mean at all, but if these lagging indexes, start to play catch up, could that propel us even higher than many prognosticators think?
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