Notable is the fact that February marks the start of a multi-month stretch that is considered the seasonally strong period for the energy sector.
XLE’s rivals include the Fidelity MSCI Energy Index ETF (NYSEArca: FENY) and the Vanguard Energy ETF (NYSEArca: VDE), which are two of the least expensive energy sector ETFs.
However, there are other factors to consider, chief among them that the technical outlook for XLE is not 100% convincing.
“There is one technical negative staring at us. Barring an immediate sharp jump higher, the ETF is about to experience a bearish moving-average cross: The 50-day average could drop below the 200-day average. It’s what chart watchers call a ‘black cross’ or ‘death cross,’ and it’s supposed to tell us that the overall trend is changing from up to down, although it is not a guarantee,” according to Barron’s regarding XLE.
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