Another week and another new high as the markets show no signs of concern. Volume still remains low as is typical until we get through the Labor Day holiday. With this sort of slow and sleepy market, most sectors and sector ETF's are also in the same position with the exception of a few.
The S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) popped to a new all time high Monday morning but was unable to hold those gains going into Tuesday. The selling pressure was light, but enough to erase the gains made Monday. Traders continue to note the summer time doldrums here and show little interest in either chasing new highs or taking risk off.
The same can be said for the Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: QQQ) which also is hovering just off the all time high. Traders have noted that the trend remains steady and has shown no signs of pausing, at least for now. As of Tuesday the Nasdaq 100 has bounced, nonstop, over 14% from its Brexit lows.
Crude oil (NYSE: USO) has staged a pretty impressive rally that started 2 weeks ago, and hasn't looked back since. The USO set a low back on August 3rd and since then has powered its way up over 18% from those lows. In this space we can confidently say that the trading volume has remained steady and above average. It very well could be that all the short term traders have moved over to Oil due to the lack of activity elsewhere.
The retail sector (NYSE: XRT) has navigated the earnings season well. Since the low set back on August 4th, the economically sensitive sector has been almost straight up, supported by positive earnings results. With just over a 6% rally, the Retail sector has made it almost back to the highs of the year.
Lastly, the Utility sector (NYSE: XLU) has struggled this week. The slide began back in July but over the past 10 trading days has really built up some selling pressure. So far the sector is down over 2.5% this week and traders would note that it closed on its low Tuesday, hinting at more downside pressure.