Defensive plays for a potentially difficult December: Traders

Stocks could be in for an unusually difficult December, Joule Financial’s Quint Tatro says.

Though the market typically rises in the final month of the year — a phenomenon sometimes labeled the “Santa Claus rally” — there are cracks forming that threaten the historical pattern, he told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Thursday.

“We really have a tale of two tapes that most people, passive investors, are completely unaware of,” the firm’s chief investment officer said. “There’s a massive dislocation regarding what’s going on in the indices and the broad market.”

For example, though the Nasdaq Composite index is less than 5% away from all-time highs, about a fifth of its components are hitting…