Momentum in Utilities, Energy Sectors; Semis Pull Back (ETFs: OIH, IGE, UTH, SMH)

Nick Perry (Schaeffer's Investment Research) submits: Two weeks ago, we saw that semis lead an otherwise balanced week of small moves. Last week a reversal took place:

Semis reversed from positions as the SMH gave up most of the gains garnered the previous week. For a number of weeks, I have been discussing the tendency for semis to lead off of bottoms so this reversal is worth watching. One interesting aspect is that the group had become overbought on a short-term basis, and this pullback allowed them to work-off that condition. The key to watch now is if buyers start to become interested again as the SMH sits near its summer peak.

Here are the year-to-date returns for the ETFs listed above:

Year-to-Date Returns for Last Week's Top Performing Sector Exchange Traded Funds:

* streetTRACKS Gold (GLD) +19.7%
* Oil Service HOLDRS (OIH) +56.4%
* iShares Natural Resource (IGE) +37.9%
* Utilities HOLDRS (UTH) +18.5%
* Energy Sector SPDR (XLE) +42.8%
* Utilities Sector SPDR (XLU) +14.7%
* iShares Utilities (IDU) +13.1%
* iShares Energy (IYE) +36.6%
* iShares Basic Materials (IYM) +2.8%
* Materials Sector SPDR (XLB) +1.8%

Year-to-Date Returns for Last Week's Bottom Performing Sector Exchange Traded Funds:

* iShares Cons Goods (IYK) -0.3%
* iShares Technology (IYW) +5.8%
* NASDAQ 100 Trust (QQQQ) +4.3%
* Telecom HOLDRS (TTH) -6.9%
* iShares Transport Average (IYT) +7.7%
* iShares Technology Index (IGM) +3.9%
* Biotech HOLDRS (BBH) +33.5%
* Internet HOLDRS (HHH) -5.6%
* iShares Semiconductor (IGW) +16.1%
* Semiconductor HOLDRS (SMHs) +13.0%