Swing Trade Approach:

Took off half my position in Baidu (BIDU) at $140.29 for a +9% profit, and will let the rest ride. Also closed out all together my positions in Lowe’s (LOW) and Take Two Interactive (TTWO) for +2% and +3% in profits respectively. The profits are piling up and the rally in the market is quite amazing as the bulls managed to close at new all-time highs yet again. I’m not against still adding new positions long, but I am limiting how much I will take on at this point, and I have a large chunk of short setups that I am ready to pull the trigger on if the market chooses to peak. 

Indicators

• Volatility Index (VIX) – $VIX fell another 6.8% today, and back into the 12’s. Also fallen for the sixth time in the last seven sessions. Seems likely we’ll see at least an attempt at sub-11. 
• T2108 (% of stocks trading above their 40-day moving average): Not a very impressive breadth reading today, and the T2108 has been stagnant over the last two weeks, which could be an indication that stocks don’t have much head space remaining. Currently at 61%. 
• Moving averages (SPX): Trading above all the major moving averages. 
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Sectors to Watch Today

With the FAANG stocks plus MSFT rallying hard, Technology continues to trail blaze higher to new all-time highs. No clue how high Apple (AAPL) wants to go, as it has already defied all the odds I had for it. Just a spectator at this point. Materials continues to sell-off over the past week, while Utilities managed bounce off of the rising trend-line from the November lows. 

My Market Sentiment

Consolidation that I mapped out on Wednesday was broken out of on Thursday. The trend-line off of the October lows is the key trend-line to be concerned with. Short-term support also rests with the bottom of the consolidation box.