Looking at XLU’s weekly chart, the ETF has been making higher lows and recently tested its 50-day simple moving average but has bounced back about 1.4% over the past week. Technicians have pointed out if a stock or index finds it difficult to break through an area of resistance, the more resilient that resistance level becomes.
Along with the support levels, the combination of the recent pullback and low interest rates help make utilities a more attractively priced.
“In late January, the median U.S. utilities valuation hit the highest level ever since Morningstar began covering utilities,” according to Moringstar‘s director of utilities equity research. “The February swoon cut that premium in half. We also cut our cost of capital assumption in our discounted cash flow valuations to reflect historical inflation and real interest rates, bringing valuation premiums down another 10%. As of mid-March, utilities’ median valuation was only slightly above market prices and in line with valuations in late 2013 before the 27% run in 2014.”
Utilities Select Sector SPDR
For more information on the utilities sector, visit our utilities category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.