Yesterday's breadth breakout did not hold. Participation above the 50-day average fell from 52.5% to 47.6%, putting it back below half the universe. The market remains Neutral — Fading. That weakens the case for expanding a swing-trading watchlist, even where individual industries still look healthy.
The technology rebuild takes a price hit
Technology's advancing participation actually rose to 41.6% from 41%, but it was the weakest sector on the day. Semiconductors fell 7.3%, despite unchanged Stage 2 participation of 35.2%. The rebuild we have followed is still visible in stage classifications, but today's selling argues against treating it as confirmation of strength.
Health care also reversed yesterday's strength, falling 2.2%. Healthcare plans retained 60% advancing participation. That pocket remains worth reviewing, but yesterday's sector leadership did not carry through.
Relative shelter remains narrow
Energy retained the strongest sector relative strength and held its Stage 2 share at 56.2%. Integrated oil and gas rose 0.7%, with 87.5% in advancing trends. Energy's participation has steadied, though its broader erosion over 20 sessions remains unresolved.
Financials, which we have tracked since Tuesday, held advancing participation at 23.9%. Financial data and stock exchanges remained an exception to that weakness, rising 1.1% with 72.7% in Stage 2.
Keep the review selective
The five-session transition deficit narrowed to 90 from 103, but exits from advancing trends still exceed entries. Net new 52-week highs remained positive at 211, so the retreat has not erased all underlying strength.
Tonight's early-setup and pullback lists are empty. The median setup score held at 6.5, but that alone is no reason to force candidates onto the list. For the next session, the useful work is checking whether existing watchlist charts survived the selling and whether breadth can recover.
| Sector | 1D | 1M | 3M | RS | Stage 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | +0.1% | +6.5% | +9.8% | 79 | 56% |
| Consumer Staples | +0.1% | +5.7% | -3.4% | 58 | 28% |
| Utilities | -0.3% | +4.6% | -4.8% | 55 | 11% |
| Consumer Discretionary | -0.4% | +5.7% | -3.7% | 57 | 19% |
| Real Estate | -0.7% | +1.8% | -8.3% | 59 | 10% |
| Communication Services | -1.4% | +1.0% | -4.7% | 54 | 29% |
| Financials | -1.5% | +1.1% | -2.0% | 66 | 24% |
| Industrials | -1.8% | +0.1% | -6.0% | 61 | 21% |
| Health Care | -2.2% | +3.8% | +6.2% | 66 | 38% |
| Materials | -2.4% | -4.7% | -4.1% | 64 | 28% |
| Information Technology | -3.6% | -4.5% | -0.7% | 61 | 42% |
Work the same data yourself: open the full stock screener, see where money is moving on the sector rotation page, or check the market-timing read. New to the method? Start with the four stages.
Stage2Stocks is an educational stage-analysis screener. These wraps describe what the screen shows across US-listed stocks. They are not investment advice, recommendations, or buy/sell calls. Always do your own research.