SMO Insights Thu 2026-09-10: Phase -3 Bearish Advanced -86.9% (New Bearish Phase)

Brian Degracia

11 Sep 2026 • 4 min read

Sector Strength Terrain Clock: day 1 of the new bearish phase, with the market now in Phase -3 Bearish Advanced. Three industries are +2 Bullish Maturing. Sixteen industries are in Phase -2 Bearish Maturing and two are in Phase -3 Bearish Advanced. Five bullish industries are ready to flip bearish and two bearish are ready to flip to bullish. The Communications and Energy sectors are uniformly strong. The Utilities and Consumer Cyclicals sectors are uniformly weak and the Financial and Healthcare sectors are close to uniformly weak.

See About for more detailed background to this analysis.

The Market Strength Score is -86.9%, the first day in a new Bearish Phase -3. Previous bullish phase was only 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 high is 76% (2025-09-18) and low is -95% (2026-03-20).

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.

September 10 note: all-stock universe, S&P500, and Nasdaq 100 are 6Weak.

Market range is from 8Very Weak XLU to 3Stronger XLE. Full sectors (upper chart) show range from 7Weaker (Consumer Cyclicals, Industrials, Real Estate, and Utilities) to 3Stronger (Energy). ETFs in lower chart show low end XLU Utilities weakening to 8Very Weak and high end XLE Energy weakening to 3Stronger.

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.

September 10 note: "Curr vs 1WA (1 week ago) Status" shows widespread weakening.

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.

September 10 note: newly negative Market Strength Score signals caution.

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

Industry Ranked Report

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.