The market is being hit with a minor bout of profit taking so far today, but volume is very light and the selling is contained.
There isn't any panic selling and some of the weaker stocks, like Apple (AAPL), have bounce off early lows.
With this sort of market action, the big question is whether it is just some healthy consolidation or the start of a topping process. Back in September and October I talked quite a bit about the topping process, which ultimately took hold, but it is far too early to be too negative right now. The market is entitled to some weak action and until we actually start to test the gap that was created on the fiscal cliff agreement, I am in no hurry to try much, if anything, on the dark side.
One of the differences between active traders, like me, and buy-and-hold investors is that we actually root for market pullbacks. What makes for good trading is the ebb and flow of prices, so days like this when there is plenty of weakness but no major distribution are a positive. Of course, if we start breaking some support levels and the intensity of selling picks up then we will need to adjust our thinking. But at this point the uptrend is intact.
I'm still in buy mood and looking for things of interest, but all I see are a few odds and ends that don't warrant much aggression.
At the time of publication, the author had no positions in any of the securities mentioned.