Material Gains?
The materials over the last one-year period were not the place to park your hard-earned capital. One can see here that over the time frame, they were the only major S&P sector in the red (figures were coming into Thursday). Looking at the daily chart below of the XLB it shows a waterfall move downward with a 14-session losing streak, not a typo, with every single day CLOSING in the lower half of the daily range between 12/2-19. The streak ended with a 4% combined loss on 12/19-20, and now it is sporting a bear flag pattern, although there have been some bullish candlesticks recently. The WEEKLY chart did record a doji last week, an encouraging sign of a possible bottom, but PRICE must confirm with a decent rally Friday. Notice it is testing potential support here from an area of former resistance. On the MONTHLY chart, notice December was a big move lower but the last 4 times since the COVID era lows in the first half of 2020 saw the very next month rise. There will be volatility but look for a rebound by the end of the month. Seasonality may suggest otherwise with just one MONTHLY gain in the last 5 years averaging a 2.1% decline.