Most of you have heard the saying “Sell in May and Go Away“. That certainly would have been good advice so far this year. The S&P and Dow are down 1% and 2.6% respectively for the month. The NASDAQ is actually up 0.15% for the month, so maybe just the ‘go away’ part of that saying should apply to the NASDAQ (so far). The NASDAQ chart shows why this market has been so tough the last few weeks.

Over the last 17 trading days the NASDAQ has basically gone nowhere. 13 of those days had opening gaps and then no follow through. 11 of those 17 days have had candles with small real bodies, which are signs of confusion and/or a stalemate between bulls & bears. Note all of the doji, stars, hammers, and spinning tops that printed during May.

The NASDAQ also has some formidable resistance just above. The 200 day moving average sits 1,950 and the 50 DMA is currently at 1970. This certainly seems like a good time to go away if you don’t have to be in the market.