My headlines are often inspired by tunes, and this one is a classic going back to 1936 and Fred Astaire. No, I am not old enough to have seen it live on TV, but I’ve heard plenty of remakes. Even though there may be trouble ahead, I am not sure if I want to face the music and dance. As a market timer, this seems like a good time to hit the bar and have a drink. In other words, lighten up and take a load off my feat.
This post is a follow up to Saturday’s post on “What to Watch for the Week Ahead”. Overall, small-caps are still lagging with the Russell 2000 ETF failing at resistance, and still in a downtrend overall. The Nasdaq 100 ETF fell rather hard the last three days and filled the September 5th gap. Perhaps most important of all, three of the five offensive sectors are lagging in September.
The PerfChart below shows the Technology SPDR (blue), the Consumer Discretionary SPDR (green) and the Communication Services SPDR (magenta) up less than 1% in September and seriously lagging the S&P 500 SPDR. In addition, the Healthcare SPDR, which is the second biggest sector in the S&P 500, is also lagging. This means four of the six biggest sectors are lagging in September. Forget about small-caps, these four sectors account for much more market cap than the Russell 2000.