It Is Still a Software World:
Software is still where it’s at. There is much better breadth in the subgroup and the IGV is just 2% off its most recent 52-week highs while the SMH is 14% off its annual peak (seen visually here with the ratio chart of the IGV against the SMH). We did speak on this topic recently being impressed at the ETF’s strength given that MSFT has been lagging. Others have been picking up the slack like the second largest component in ORCL which sports a bull flag pivot of 192 and a break above could carry a measured move to 217. Fellow top ten holding NOW is dealing with round number theory at the very round 1000 number and looks headed toward 1075 after a break above a cup base at the round 700 figure in February. Getting back to the IGV, this broke above a 4-week tight pattern, a William O’ Neill favorite, (with the 4 weeks ending between 10/11-11/1 all CLOSING with a 92 handle) the week ending 11/8 which jumped 9.7%, narrowly missing its first double-digit WEEKLY advance since the week ending 11/11/22. As of Wednesday’s CLOSE, it is back above the high of that WEEKLY range. PANW reports after the CLOSE too, and although it is not as important as NVDA to the SMH it recently broke above a bull flag and is currently dealing with the very round 400 number.