"Surprise, Surprise" -- Consumer Confidence Drops

Consumer confidence seems to have fallen out of bed. Retail, consumer discretionary and gaming follow suit. The SPX index is retreating a bit from yesterday's lofty levels, especially since it was well contained by the huge overhead resistance at 1205 earlier this morning and the disappointing forecast out of Texas Instruments (TXN). I do expect technical supports to hold for now though, and for the market to find its legs for a late 4Q holiday rally. Value buyers seem to step in every time we near some good support levels. Volatility should remain relatively high, and investors need to be nimble and look for new market leadership to reassert itself later this year. My best candidate for that are the technology and financials sectors. Cash raised by selling energy stocks in recent weeks needs to flow somewhere, and I just can't see it going in too many other sectors apart from technology and financials -- the macro environment is just not supporting the fundamentals elsewhere. Consequently, if 4Q rally is to materialize and the 1205 SPX index resistance level is to be taken out, I would look for technology and financials to give us the thumbs up, so to speak!