Software Primed?
Technology is not the cellar dweller anymore on a YTD basis among the 11 major S&P sectors. The XLK has now catapulted the consumer staples and utility groups and now stands as the ninth-best actor. One can look at this two ways depending on your bullish/bearish bias. Bulls would say there is plenty of upside to capture going into year-end, and bears would declare it’s simply a dead cat bounce. The two large standout groups within technology are semiconductors and software. Until now there has been little competition. The ratio chart below suggests the SMH may get tested here in the near term, as a bullish ascending triangle takes hold in favor of the IGV. Some names behaving well in software include ATVI or a CVLT. The latter is extended from a bullish ascending triangle breakout above 72.50, which carries a measured move to 90. Again ratio charts just suggest which group is acting better against another. It says nothing that both instruments being compared to each other can not BOTH be acting well. Wouldn’t that be a nice one-two punch for the overall technology space.