Short-Covering Stalls for Lack of 'Good' News

Wednesday's asphyxiating tedium was a reminder that DaBoyz are in no rush to take stocks higher, especially if the short-covering needed to do so is absent. Usually, bear buying-binges are driven by "good" news. On this particular day, however, the headlines concerned a State of the Union speech that held little interest for Wall Street. Toss in the usual bilge concerning political bickering, Mueller's supposed investigation and such, and you begin to see why ginning up a rally would have been so difficult.

Nevertheless, the chart of AAPL (see inset), which has regained its leadership status as the bear rally has progressed, looks constructive. One could argue that the stock, as well as a few others controlled by institutions, are in a bullish holding pattern pending "news" capable of goading bears into doing some heavy lifting. It's hard to imagine what the news will be, although rehashing the Fed's policy shift toward "not tightening" has gotten fabulous mileage so far.

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