This is the daily notebook of Mike Santoli, CNBC's senior markets commentator, with ideas about trends, stocks and market statistics.
The morning bounces have been a bit technical and mechanical, as is often the case after a little volatility flare-up, traders testing out demand at levels that were sliced through a day earlier to see if the "nothing's really changed" crowd is there to buy the dip. So far this year, this process has played out a few times.
A month ago this was the set-up: The S&P 500 was up 11% YTD and sat 16% above its 200-day average, pretty stretched. Investor allocations were near record highs in equities. Earnings were about to come in phenomenally strong, but the market already "knew" this. Gauges of economic acceleration – ISM, retail sales, etc. – were peaking.