Exchange traded funds tracking the S&P 500 are down more than 2% this week as the stock ETFs try to hold the 50-day moving average.
“The S&P 500 slid beneath its 50-day exponential moving average yesterday and also retraced 50% of the rally off the June lows. The sideways stagger of recent months continues,” wrote Tarquin Coe at Investors Intelligence in a newsletter Friday. “A visit back down to the June lows would be highly probable should major indexes end today in the red.”
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY) was struggling to stay in the green late Friday. Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEArca: XLE) was up more than 2%, however, on higher oil prices and $12.1 billion all-cash bid for Petrohawk Energy (NYSE: HK) from BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP). [Energy ETFs Jump]
Elsewhere in sector ETFs, Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEArca: XLF) was down nearly 1% due to a late-day slide in Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) following Citi’s earnings report.
The S&P 500 “is struggling to gain traction” and resolution will only come “once macro uncertainties such as the U.S. debt ceiling and Euro region debt begin to lift,” Coe said.