Leaders Index 5-8-23

The market was pretty quiet today. The major averages opened nearly unchanged and then bounced around most of the day. A little late strength saw all the major averages finish high in their intraday trading ranges. The COMPQ and the NDX were higher by .18% and .25% respectively. The SPX gained only .05%. Volume was lower across the board. Leading stocks were higher on the session with the leaders index gaining .94% on the day. The index closed high in its trading range on lower and below average volume. The market basically treaded water today and ended with mostly small gains. Small and mid-cap stocks were lower. The market seems to be bidding time right now. We have a busy week of news with the debt ceiling meeting tomorrow and the CPI and PPI on Wednesday and Thursday. I still think the market is in a trading range and likely will be for a while. This will include a lot of volatile action with large price moves in both directions. It will take a while to work through this as few sustained rallies begin in the summer. I think we have a period of frustrating up and down action before the market is ready for a sustained move higher. Jerry