The markets have been exceptionally weak so far with the worst of the declines coming on Monday. The S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) sold off 2% Monday, closing back below the 200 day moving average once again. For the week the SPY is in the negative by about 3% as each bounce is met with selling pressure.
The Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: QQQ) has also been quite weak so far thanks to a strong selloff in tech names on Monday with some reported news about a slowdown in production of iPhones from some of their suppliers, the tech companies along with semiconductors have held back the QQQ. The QQQ has lost about 4% on the week already.
As mentioned above, the Semiconductors (NYSE: SMH) have been one of the worst performers of the week thanks to a strong and broad selloff on Monday. On Monday alone the SMH sold off over 4.5% which mostly stemmed from the news that the iPhone sales could be slowing. The SMH is one of the major underperformers lately with losses totalling almost 7% this year.
Oil (NYSE: USO) continues it's record setting selloff this week as it had it's worst one day loss on Tuesday since 2015. The price of oil closed below $55 a barrel Tuesday and has now had a 12 day losing streak which is the most on record ever. The U.S. is now outputting 12 million barrels a day and OPEC is pumping out 33 million per day though they said they will cut production by 500,000 barrels in December.
Financials (NYSE: XLF) have also been weak so far as a selloff from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) on Monday hurt the sector as a whole. With Goldman hitting new 52-week lows and other big banks under performing the markets, the sector remains critical to the support of the overall market.
Finally, Utilities (NYSE: XLU) continue to edge higher this week. The utility stocks are the best performing sector over the last 6 months despite a slow increase in interest rates. The XLU finds itself just off yearly highs and volume in the sector remains strong.