Google Remains Range Bound

Joel Elconin is the co-host of Benzinga's #PreMarket Prep, a daily trading idea radio show.

Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) shares are trading higher by $11.31 at $538 in Wednesday's session. After a higher open, it retreated only $0.01, but is resuming its rally.

The once high-flying momentum stock has not participated in the market's run to a new all-time high. Shares are, in fact, quite a distance from their all-time high made in February 2014.

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Since May 6, the stock has been in a well-defined trading range from $521.06 to $544.19, testing the upper end on the range on multiple occasions, but unable to break out. 

No catalyst has been provided by Wall Street analysts on Wednesday, and the company itself has not made any new announcements to instigate a rally.

So far, the stock has reached $538.17 and has not backed off much from that level. That marks the highest level for the issue since it put in a pair of highs on June 2 ($543) and June 3 ($543.50), which is just shy of the upper end of the month-long trading range.

Google did manage to pop to $571.14 despite missing on both EPS and revenue. The gains were short-lived and the issue established the lower end of the trading range only eight sessions later.