No Anxiety for Tech, Biotech

Forget a 10% correction, which many bears say is long overdue. It has been 121 trading days since the S&P 500 has had a 2% correction.

James Bianco of Bianco Research points this out in his "daily news clips" report Thursday, adding that there are no cartoons to highlight because there isn't enough bad news to poke fun at. The dearth of cartoons, plus the longest stock market stretch without a 2% correction since 1995, could be reason enough to get investors nervous about the stock market's five-month rally.

A bit of a pullback might be a good thing, as the market seems jerky and eager to buy or sell on the slightest hint of a trend.

"Hopefully we can see a slow correction," says Rich Ishida, chief technical analyst at MarketVane, a research company that specializes in market sentiment. "Going sideways to lower for the next week would be good to get the anxiety out of the market."

Thursday's trade was uneven as investors' anxiety seemed to build, though the major averages reversed earlier losses and ended the day in the green.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average spent most of the day in the red, but finished up 0.05% at 12,480.69. The S&P 500 also reversed a weak start to finish up 0.12% at 1418.34. While the Dow and S&P were restrained by weakness in energy stocks (crude fell to its lowest level in 18 months), the Nasdaq Composite rallied sharply, closing up 1.25% to 2453.43.