The market was exhibiting signs of upside movement at the open, but the selling in crude oil emerged as the biggest and most influential story of the session.   After running out of the steam, the rally in West Texas Intermediate took out $50 as support, and within days of failing to get back through that pivotal number, down it went again, this time testing then failing to hold $45.00.

Once again, an effort to get back over what was once key support but now key resistance resulted in today’s weakness. There used to be a debate with crude and whether it’s a proxy for the global economy or priced more so on supply and demand imbalances. These days, this is purely the result of too much crude on the market.  It’s something I’ve been writing about for a while now.

I still think too many US rigs came back online too soon.

We learned during the initial oil meltdown that cheap crude/gasoline isn’t an elixir for the economy and that people either paid old bills or tucked savings into an old coffee jar. There are industries like airlines that should benefit, but that’s not being factored in yet.

I’m not thrilled with the weakness in technology stocks this session.  

Halfway through the session and all sectors except real estate are lower. The good news is it is on light volume, the bad news is it’s a reminder the market still needs a catalyst. Moreover, consolidating recent gains means some wheel-spinning.