Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Stock prices in general are weak today and there seems to be a battle line for the decline being drawn at the 6,100 level for the S&P 500.

Opening selling pressure dropped the S&P 500 below 6,100 and it has been tracking sideways since about 10:00 a.m. ET, carving a path between 6,084 and 6,110. Thus far, the compulsion to buy the dip has been suppressed by concerns that recent froth in the market could be a warning sign of a near-term top.

In any case, the stock market has struggled today from a lack of concerted leadership and disappointing fiscal Q1 and full-year guidance from Walmart (WMT 97.32, -6.68, -6.4%) that has raised concerns about the market achieving the strong earnings growth this year that is embedded in its premium valuation.

Today's selling, by and large, has been orderly, yet the broad-based nature of the pullback has fostered a bid to hedge against the possibility of further downside, evidenced by the uptick in the CBOE Volatility (16.02, +0.75, +4.9%).