Major S&P sectors close down hard into the weekend in a bath of red ink

All  major S&P sectors closed down today with the exception of defensive sector, Utilities, which eked out a 0.14% gain.

Significant losses were seen in Consumer Discretionary, Technology, Industrial, Material, energy and Financials.

Today, five out of nine of the major sectors are below their 50 day moving averages, indicating short term weakness ahead, however, none of the major sectors are  yet on point and figure “sell” signals.

Sector ETF Update:

Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:XLY): -1.94%, This ETF tracks the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector Index which includes media, retail, hotels, leisure, and restaurants.

Sector SPDR Trust SBI Interest ETF (NYSEARCA:XLK): -2.1%, This ETF tracks the Technology Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index which includes companies in computers, semiconductors, telecommunications, and wireless.

Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:XLI): -1.4%, This ETF tracks the Industrial Select Sector Index which consists of aerospace, industrial, rail, airfreight, and construction and engineering.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:XLB): -1.7%, This ETF tracks the Materials Select Sector Index including chemicals, metals and mining, packaging, and construction materials.

Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:XLE): -2.3%, This ETF tracks the Energy Select Sector Index, including oil and gas, energy equipment, and energy services.

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:XLP): -0.79%, This ETF tracks the Consumer Staples Select Sector Index in sub-sectors including food products, household products, tobacco, and beverages.

Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:XLV): -1.3%, This ETF tracks the S&P Health Care Select Sector Index and focuses on pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers and equipment and biotechnology.

Select Sector Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:XLU): +014%, This ETF tracks the Utilities Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index and includes power companies, energy traders, electric utilities and gas utility companies.

Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:XLF): -1.6%, This ETF tracks the Financial Select Sector Index which follows commercial banks, insurance consumer finance, mortgage finance, and real estate.

Bottom Line: Weakness spreads “under the hood,”  as major sectors decline and many drop below their 50 day moving averages.

Sign up for our free newsletter!

Disclaimer: Wall Street Sector Selector trades a wide variety of ETFs and positions can change at any time.

About John Nyaradi (http://www.wallstreetsectorselector.com) John Nyaradi is Publisher of Wall Street Sector Selector: Your Home For ETF Investing! John writes a weekly guest column, John Nyaradi’s ETF Edge for MarketWatch.com and his investment articles have appeared in many online publications including Trading Markets, Money Show, Yahoo Finance, Investors Insight, Fidelity, ETF Daily News, iStock Analyst , among many others. His book, Super Sectors: How to Outsmart the Market Using Sector Rotation and ETFs, is published by John Wiley and Sons and included among the Years Top Investment Books in the 2011 Stock Trader’s Almanac.