SMO Insights Mon 2026-10-05: Phase +1 Bullish New 5.5% (New Bullish Regime)

Brian Degracia

05 Oct 2026 • 4 min read

Sector Strength Terrain Clock showing Phase +1 Bullish New. Seventeen bearish industries are in Bearish Advanced and eight are in Bearish Maturing. One industry is in Bullish Maturing. No bullish industries are on the verge of flipping to bearish and one bearish industry is close to switching to bullish. Other than Communications and Industrial, all sectors are uniformly or almost uniformly weak.

See About for more detailed background to this analysis.

The Market Strength Score is +5.5% and this is the first day of a new Bullish phase. The previous bearish Phase was seven days and the preceding bullish phase was 2 days.

Goal: objectively determine what to do and when in the U.S. stock market
How: top-down, inside-out, and bottom-up market, sector, industry, sub-industry, and stock analysis; three unique tools 1) Market Strength Score, 2) Sector Strength Terrain Clock, 3) Strength Spectrums
Example actions: long vs. short, trend follow vs. mean revert, aggressive vs. conservative, days vs. weeks expected holding period
Basis: where are there strength pockets and how much may remain

Tools:
1. Sector Strength Terrain Clock, a single-day snapshot plotting sector and industry strength and the current Market Strength Score within the Six-Phase framework
2. Market Strength Score Gauge, a one year comparison of the Market Strength Score and the S&P 500
3. Industry Strength Scores by Sector showing comparative alphabetical views of sector and industry strength
4. Industry Strength Scores Ranked which groups the strongest and weakest industries to identify pockets of least and most extended setups
5. Sector and Sector ETFs High-Level Reports showing Strength Spectrums for the 11 sectors and the 11 sector ETFs
6. Sector Mid-Level and Detailed Reports showing Strength Scores and Strength Spectrums for sectors, industries, and sub-industries
7. Ranked Reports clearly showing where is the strength and weakness at the sector ETF, industry, and sub-industry levels

SMO Market Strength Score Gauge

Provides 12 month context against prior scores and the S&P 500 for today's MSS.

The one year MSS extremes are 75.2% on 2026-04-21 and -96.4% on 2026-10-01.

SMO Industry Strength Scores by Sector

The sectors are listed alphabetically and below each are their component industries listed alphabetically. The Six Phase thresholds are labeled along with the current Market Strength Score. This reveals sector strength breadth and depth.

SMO Industry Strength Scores Ranked

The industries are listed based on strength score, first strengthening industries then weakening industries. The Six Phase thresholds are labeled along with the current Market Strength Score. This reveals the least and most extended industries.

SMO Sector and Sector ETFs High-Level Reports

The Sector Report lists the strength spectrum readings for the 11 sectors. The Sector ETFs Report lists the strength spectrum readings for the 11 sector ETFs. Each report also shows the combined strength spectrum for all stocks in this universe and for the major indexes S&P 500 and NDX.

This provides a broad overview of market strength and weakness pockets.

October 5 note: all-stock universe and S&P500 are 6Weak and Nasdaq 100 is at 5Average, and all three strengthened but didn't change rating over the past week.

Full sectors (upper chart) range from 8Very Weak (Utilities which strengthened but didn't change rating, and Real Estate) to 4Strong (Technology).

ETFs (lower chart) ranges from 8Very Weak XLRE Real Estate and XLU Utilities (which strengthened) to 3Stronger XLK Technology which climbed one strength level.

SMO Sector Mid-Level and Detailed Reports

The following Sector Mid-Level and Detailed Reports provide more refined market strength pockets, potential relative lasting power for these strengths, and a logical foundation for potential stock-/option-specific actions.

The Sector Mid-Level Report below lists the strength spectrum readings for all stocks and the major indexes S&P 500 and NDX, then lists the same for key sectors and sector ETFs.

October 5 note: MAG7, SOX, and Semis lead at 2Very Strong. 8Very Weak shows most notably Real Estate along with Utilities which strengthened but didn't change rating. Basic Materials, Communications, Energy, Technology, and Utilities showed strength.

The Sector Detailed Report below expands upon the Sector Mid-Level Report by overlaying the Sector Strength Terrain Clock Industry Strength Scores and adding industry and sub-industry detail.

October 5 note: bullish Market Strength Score conveys positive environment. Strength shown in Industrials, Technology, and Utilities (despite its low 8Very Weak rating).

SMO Ranked Reports

The following provide strongest to weakest ranked views of the 11 Sector ETFs, 46 industries, and 149 sub-industries.

Sector ETFs Ranked Report

MAG7 at 2VeryStrong (NVDA reaching new highs), bringing up Technology which strengthened to 3Stronger.

Industry Ranked Report

Semiconductor Industry strengthened to 2Very Strong. Meanwhile, Real Estate continues to weaken and ended up the week at 8Very Weak.

Sub-Industry Ranked Report, Strongest and Weakest Only

The sub-industries report shows only those ranked 3Stronger, 2Very Strong, 1Strongest, 7Weaker, 8Very Weak, and 9Weakest.

For educational purposes only. These are not stock or investment recommendations. See this disclaimer.