The S&P 500 closed below its 50-day moving average for the first time all year today, so below is an updated look at where the individual stocks within the S&P 500 stand in relation to their 50-days.
As shown below, 47% of the stocks in the S&P 500 are currently above their 50-days, which is about inline with where you would expect this reading to be based on where the overall index is trading.
The breakdown by sector is concerning. Ā All of the cyclical sectors have extremely weak breadth readings, while it's only the defensives that are holding up. Ā As shown below, Technology, Energy and Materials all have readings below 30%, with Energy at just 16%! Ā In the Consumer Staples sector, 90% of stocks are still above their 50-days, and every single Telecom stock is above its 50-day (keep in mind that there are less than a dozen Telecom stocks in the index). Ā A breadth reading for the S&P 500 of 47% would look much better if the defensives had the weak readings and the cyclicals had the strong ones, but the opposite is the case right now.
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