Consumer staples ($XLP) led the market bounce today. After yesterday’s widespread selloff, they were the first to get back to new all-time highs. Stocks like Coca Cola ($KO), Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ), Hershey’s ($HSY) continue to be appetite bites in an yield-chasing world.

Relative strength proved itself again as one of the most powerful equity selection filters, especialy during deep pullbacks. Yesterday, $ACOR was a lonely green mountain in the midst of a red ocean of stocks. Today, it followed through and gained another 12%.

New Highs

37 new all-time highs among stocks that gained 1% or more: $GWW $GNMK $SNTS $BLMN $ANGI $REGN $SHW $HSY …

76 stocks reached 52-week highs while appreciating 1%+ today: $UNXL $ACOR $KO $ALKS $ASR $AWAY …

StockTwits 50 Highlights
While all St50 stocks were in red yesterday, most of them gained ground today.27 gained more than 2%. $IMPV, $ACHC and $CREE snapped back to new 52-week highs. Many other are within a striking distance from making new highs.

This is a seriously bipolar market that is changing its mind every day. The long-term trend is still intact, at least for big caps and high-yield stocks. In the same time, there have been plenty of distribution days in the indexes and selloffs in growth stocks. The forecast remains for “meatballs with a chances of rain” or with other words it still is a “market of stocks” environment, but indexes seem more vulnerable than they have been any time this year. This is not the time to be overly aggressive or be on margin. Being very selective and light seems to be the key for the foreseeable future.