Mutual funds, hedge funds, and other market-moving institutional players apparently remained on the sidelines yesterday, while retail investors drove the market higher.

Although the major indices finished at or near their 52-week highs last week, the main stock market indexes have not yet broken out above their sideways trading ranges of the past several weeks.

When the new month begins and the Easter holiday has passed, the volume pattern of the broad market should give us a much clearer indication of what's really happening.

Traders are laying low ahead of the holiday weekend.

Despite the bearish "shooting star" candlestick patterns that formed on the charts of the major indices on March 25, stocks have yet to follow through with a substantial downside correction.

After lagging behind for a year, the financial sector finally began showing considerable relative strength over the past month.

The Nasdaq Composite's "shooting star"pattern is suggestive of a healthy dose of caution going into today's session.

Market internals were only slightly negative. In the NYSE and Nasdaq, declining volume marginally exceeded advancing volume.

Being too heavily positioned on either side of the market right now is probably unwise. Going into today, Deron Wagner is stalking a possible entry point into another ETF with low stock market correlation.

Given the apparent tug-of-war between the bulls and bears over the past two days, this may be a good time to stay on the sidelines until the market figures out its next move.