After suffering from heavy losses over the past few sessions the NASDAQ rebounded in very light trade.  Leading the way the NASDAQ closed up 33 points or .81% followed by the Russell 2000 closing higher by .74%.  Volume light on the session and it was no real surprise after such a big volume sell-off in this market.  The Dow was barely able to close in positive territory, but it was turnaround Tuesday and stocks had to go higher.  Leading the S&P 500 today was Utilities and by a large margin.  Technology and Oil & Gas were the two other sectors leading the market higher.  For those counting at home today was Day one of a new attempted rally on the NASDAQ.  However, given the carnage in momentum stocks and lack of volume today any hope in a rally is, at this point minimal.

Another reason to have little hope (other than it being the worse emotion in the market) is utilities are leading the market here.  Utilities are known for their yields and defensive nature when the overall market moves lower.  While we’ll simply move with price it is interesting to see such a defensive sector continue to see strength.  It certainly shows those who are putting money to work do not want exposure to sectors with higher beta.  Price certainly has spoken and outside of utilities Oil & Gas names continue to be the standouts.

Tomorrow we get a look at the Federal Reserve meeting minutes and should cause some fireworks.  It would be the minutes of Ms. Yellen’s first meeting and many pundits will be looking at hits where the Fed sees QE and short-term rates.  The Taper is still on and by October it will be no longer and the focus will certainly be on short-term rates.  Short-term rates have been moving higher in anticipation of the Fed raising its target funds rate.  The yield curve has not been steepening, but it is compressing.  It should create some interesting outcomes when the yield curve compresses.

The bulls will likely claim a bottom is in and new highs are right around the corner.  We aren’t about to bloviate on the matter as we’ll let the gurus do so.  However, we’ll keep our focus on price signals and react to them.