Midday Market

Midday Wave #137: Breadth Firms, Momentum Cracks: Tech Bleeds as Defense Takes Over – Thursday 10/22/2026

Episode 1376:10

0:006:10

Episode summary

Long-term breadth improves while short-term breadth and sentiment collapse, led by a sharp selloff in QQQ and Technology. Insurance, Staples, and Health Care hold gains as institutional flows rotate into defensive names, with QQQ’s $706.63 floor and SPY’s $768.20 SMA50 the key afternoon levels to watch. Built from WaveFinder scanner data at app.waverider.ai.

Chapter by chapter

Breadth Diverges Across Timeframes

40SMA breadth firms while 20SMA breadth collapses, setting up a split regime.

Sentiment Cracks, Tech Leads Decline

Sentiment flips Very Bearish short-term; QQQ underperforms SPY and IWM as sector rotation favors Staples and Health Care over Technology.

Defensive Names and Institutional Flows

Software and Insurance names hold gains with mixed volume confirmation; institutional buybacks and volume signals point to selective, defensive positioning.

Key Levels for the Close

Defensive bias into the afternoon with QQQ's $706.63 floor and SPY's $768.20 SMA50 as pivotal levels, ADBE as a bellwether for software strength.

Key points

  • 40SMA breadth rose 8.5 points while 20SMA breadth fell 18 points, signaling a healthy long-term backdrop but a sharp short-term stall.
  • Sentiment flipped to Very Bearish short-term as Bear 4% more than doubled overnight, even as 40SMA sentiment stayed Bullish.
  • QQQ fell 2.17% below its SMA20 and SMA50 with RSI at 38.4, materially underperforming SPY and flat IWM.
  • Insurance (AJG, AON, ALL) and select institutional buying (UTHR, TMO, SPGI, MSCI) show real rotation into defensive sectors.
  • Watch QQQ's $706.63 floor and SPY's $768.20 SMA50 as the key levels defining afternoon bias.

Ticker charts

QQQ

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open QQQ in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

SPY

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open SPY in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

IWM

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open IWM in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

ADBE

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open ADBE in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

ACN

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open ACN in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

ADSK

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open ADSK in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

AJG

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open AJG in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

AON

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open AON in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

ALL

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open ALL in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

UTHR

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open UTHR in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

TMO

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open TMO in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

SPGI

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open SPGI in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

MSCI

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open MSCI in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

MOH

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open MOH in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

SCCO

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open SCCO in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

AA

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open AA in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

NDAQ

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open NDAQ in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

TSCO

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open TSCO in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 22, 2026.

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