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Market Insights

Bringing you the trading news around the world.

Bulls pivot back to energy: Midweek sector check

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The S&P 500 is bouncing at its 50-day moving average as the market drifts into the dog days of summer. Here’s a breakdown of the best- and worst-performing industries so far this week.

Winners:

  • Energy is surging with life as crude oil (@CL) rallies to a new multiyear high. Four of the S&P 500’s best performers this week are in the energy sector. The Market Vectors Oil Servicers ETF (OIH) is also outperforming the broader market, up more than 2 percent since Friday’s close.
  • Consumer staples like Campbell Soup (CPB) and JM Smucker (SJM) have rallied as merger activity builds in the sector.
  • Utilities are the best major sector this week as falling interest rates draw investors to dividend plays.

Losers:

  • Technology is the weakest major sector, with Chinese technology stocks performing worst. Semiconductors have also lagged.
  • Airlines have led a selloff in transportation stocks. Worries about global trade disputes have weighed on both technology and transports.
  • Financials are down more than 1 percent, led by a 2 percent drop in banks.
  • Metals and emerging markets have lost about 3 percent of their value, also hurt by global economic uncertainty.

About the author

David Russell
David Russell is VP of Market Intelligence at TradeStation Group. Drawing on two decades of experience as a financial journalist and analyst, his background includes equities, emerging markets, fixed-income and derivatives. He previously worked at Bloomberg News, CNBC and E*TRADE Financial. Russell systematically reviews countless global financial headlines and indicators in search of broad tradable trends that present opportunities repeatedly over time. Customers can expect him to keep them apprised of sector leadership, relative strength and the big stories – especially those overlooked by other commentators. He’s also a big fan of generating leverage with options to limit capital at risk.

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