Trending sectors
Query: Trending sectors · data as of 2026-10-12
Screened 17 US-listed sector/industry ETFs in established uptrends and/or above their 150-day SMA, ranked by 1-year return. Energy (XLE +55%, XOP +51%) and Tech/Semis (XLK +36%, SMH +72%) lead, followed by Healthcare/Biotech (XLV, XBI, IBB), Software (IGV, XSW) and Materials (IYM). Delivered a symbol/name/theme table with 1M/3M/6M/1Y returns, % from 150D SMA and 52W high, relative volume, technical pattern flags and AUM, plus an AUM-sized heatmap grouped by ETF type with ETF theme subgroups and toggles for 1D/1M/6M returns and % above 150D SMA, and a narrative on leadership drivers and laggards.
17 US-listed sector and industry ETFs are trading in an established uptrend and/or above their 150-day SMA. Energy (XLE, XOP) and Technology/Semis (XLK, SMH) lead on 1-year returns, joined by Healthcare/Biotech (XLV, XBI, IBB), Software (IGV, XSW) and Materials (IYM). Ranked by 1-year performance; heatmap sizes blocks by AUM.
Sector & Industry ETFs in Uptrends — Ranked by 1-Year Return
| Symbol | ETF Name | Sector / Theme | ETF Type | 1M Return | 3M Return | 6M Return | 1Y Return | % from 150D SMA | % from 52W High | Rel. Volume | Technical Pattern | Trend Status | AUM ($B) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMH | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | Semiconductors | theme | 3.95% | -1.55% | 33.30% | 71.73% | 8.56% | -11.65% | 0.767 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 67.8 | Semis sit at the fault line of the AI trade: the group carries the market's highest beta and still-strong demand for compute, but the marginal narrative has shifted toward cheaper in-house silicon. Watch the equipment and optics names inside the ETF for the sharpest swings — this is the highest-conviction, highest-volatility way to express AI capex. |
| XLE | State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | Energy | sector | 1.94% | 16.60% | 17.11% | 54.72% | 12.42% | 0.00% | 0.6628 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 38.7 | The purest macro-inflation expression in the screen. Energy's leadership pairs a commodity tailwind (WTI near cycle highs) with the cheapest valuation anchors in the S&P, which makes it a natural haven when rate-sensitive cyclicals wobble. Integrated majors and midstream are the steadier core; E&P offers the torque. |
| XOP | State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF | Oil & Gas Exploration & Production | theme | -0.33% | 17.62% | 16.20% | 51.33% | 12.34% | -2.71% | 0.5895 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 3.4 | Smaller and more levered to crude price swings than XLE — a high-torque bet on sustained oil prices. Capital-discipline among shale drillers has kept supply in check, supporting cash returns, but the group re-rates fast if crude rolls over. |
| XBI | State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF | Biotech | theme | -3.07% | -2.61% | 14.77% | 42.74% | 4.83% | -10.70% | 0.7025 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 8.4 | Equal-weighted and skewed to pre-revenue, cash-burning biotech, so it is acutely sensitive to funding conditions. Its uptrend is running into a market that is increasingly rewarding nearer-term profitability — a barbell of binary catalyst risk. |
| XLK | State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF | Technology | sector | 4.75% | 7.06% | 35.17% | 36.02% | 12.69% | -2.79% | 0.7036 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 124.5 | The largest sector ETF and the broadest AI proxy, now driven more by mega-cap platform owners monetizing compute than by the hardware supply chain. Concentrated leadership means index-level resilience can mask weakness in the smaller components. |
| IBB | iShares Biotechnology ETF | Biotechnology | theme | 0.66% | 8.27% | 18.65% | 34.61% | 10.30% | -5.85% | 0.7277 | Upward channel (4%) | Uptrend + >150D | 7.9 | Cap-weighted and dominated by large-cap biopharma with real revenue, making it the more defensive way to play biology versus XBI. Pairs diversification and dividend support with exposure to the obesity and immunology drug cycles. |
| IYZ | iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF | Telecommunications | sector | -3.01% | 0.98% | 2.15% | 28.82% | 0.02% | -9.08% | 0.722 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 1.1 | A narrow, carrier-heavy telecom book where the uptrend is less about business fundamentals than income-stock positioning. Rate sensitivity is the key risk — higher long yields pressure this group more than its trend flag suggests. |
| GXPT | Global X PureCap MSCI Information Technology ETF | Information Technology | sector | 4.54% | 8.90% | 31.90% | 27.85% | 12.77% | -2.53% | 0.2791 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 0.1 | A small, newer zero-overlap take on tech that tilts away from mega-cap concentration. Its trend and percentile ranking track XLK closely, so treat it as a purer, less familiar way to express the same AI-platform theme. |
| IYM | iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF | Basic Materials | sector | -2.20% | 2.63% | -1.50% | 23.95% | 0.25% | -7.42% | 0.3833 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 1.4 | Materials sits in the uptrend mostly on the strength of its mining and precious-metals components rather than broad chemical demand. It is a genuine commodity-inflation hedge, but the industrial side of the book remains a drag. |
| XLV | State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF | Health Care | sector | 4.41% | 9.07% | 17.19% | 21.27% | 9.92% | -2.10% | 0.7021 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 38.2 | Healthcare has become the market's defensive rotation destination: low volatility, improving margins, and positive absolute returns while most rate-sensitive cyclicals sell off. Favorable demographic and drug-cycle backdrops give the trend staying power. |
| IYH | iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF | Healthcare | sector | 4.04% | 9.00% | 17.21% | 20.60% | 9.84% | -2.39% | 3.1714 | Upward channel (17%) | Uptrend + >150D | 3.1 | Near-twin to XLV with a slightly different weighting; the wide relative-volume reading signals it saw heavier-than-usual interest as money rotated into defensive healthcare. Composition differences versus XLV drive the small divergence. |
| GDX | VanEck Gold Miners ETF | Gold Miners | theme | -8.83% | 18.23% | -10.38% | 17.94% | 0.56% | -23.58% | 0.4652 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 27.1 | Gold miners carry the dual beta of bullion prices and equity leverage to them. The recent pullback reflects profit-taking on a crowded trade, but the structural case — real-asset hedge bundled with capital returns — keeps the longer trend intact. |
| XLP | State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF | Consumer Staples | sector | 1.90% | 1.85% | 4.91% | 11.13% | 1.71% | -6.22% | 0.709 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 14.9 | The one sector that combines low volatility, improving margins and pricing power — the classic late-cycle ballast. Its uptrend is defensive rather than growth-driven, so it tends to lead precisely when cyclical cyclicals are under pressure. |
| XLF | State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF | Financials | sector | -3.50% | -1.66% | 7.31% | 4.87% | 2.85% | -5.99% | 0.6017 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 49.4 | Financials have lagged despite holding above their trend support, reflecting the market re-pricing the rate and credit backdrop. Regional banks are the swing factor; the worst of the curve repricing may be behind the group, but cheapness alone hasn't been enough. |
| XSW | State Street SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF | Software & Services | theme | 4.08% | 14.01% | 43.33% | 0.71% | 16.87% | -3.33% | 0.408 | Upward channel (23%) | Uptrend + >150D | 0.4 | Equal-weighted software, so it captures the broadening AI-monetization trade with less mega-cap distortion than IGV. A high-beta, high-multiple group whose trend depends on earnings delivery rather than the macro. |
| IGV | iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF | Software | theme | 9.61% | 18.85% | 41.42% | -3.78% | 18.13% | -4.95% | 0.4526 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 16.7 | Software has been the cleanest beneficiary of the shift in AI narrative from hardware supply chain to platform monetization. Note the trailing return figure is distorted by fund distribution mechanics — the near-term trend and business momentum are what matter. Cybersecurity and cloud names inside are the durable tailwinds. |
| IHI | iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF | Medical Devices | theme | 3.92% | 7.42% | -1.79% | -11.66% | 1.57% | -18.12% | 0.5766 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 3 | Medtech is the quiet defensive winner — benefiting from procedure volumes and recent rotation into low-volatility healthcare while long-duration biotech goes through a funding squeeze. |
Sector & Industry ETF Heatmap — Block Size = AUM
[heatmap: Sector & Industry ETF Heatmap — Block Size = AUM]
Leading Sectors
What's leading, and why. Three distinct engines are driving the sector leadership right now.
1. Energy (XLE, XOP) is the cleanest macro trade. WTI crude near cycle highs has handed integrated majors and E&P names cash flow at cycle peaks and some of the cheapest valuations in the market. It leans against rate-sensitive cyclicals, so it is both a momentum and a defensive expression.
2. Technology is bifurcating. The AI theme has rotated away from the capex supply chain (optics, memory, semicap) toward the platform owners monetizing compute — which is why Software (IGV, XSW) and broad Technology (XLK) hold their trends while Semiconductors (SMH, still up sharply over a year) wobble on the cheaper-silicon narrative.
3. Healthcare (XLV, IYH, XBI, IBB, IHI) is the defensive rotation destination. Positive absolute returns, improving margins and low volatility are pulling money out of both rate-sensitive cyclicals and the AI-hardware trade. Medtech and large-cap biopharma are the steadier core; small-cap biotech is the higher-beta satellite.
What's lagging. Utilities, Consumer Discretionary, Communication Services, Materials-proper, Real Estate and Industrials sit below their 150-day averages — the classic signature of a late-cycle market punishing rate-sensitive, capital-intensive and funding-dependent groups. Solar, uranium, homebuilders and China internet are in outright downtrends.
The broad takeaway: breadth is flat and dispersion is extreme, so this is a stock-picker's tape, not a beta trade. Capital is concentrating in cash-generative, nearer-term-earnings names (energy, software, medtech/staples) and away from narrative-driven, capital-hungry stories.
Run a version of this yourself
Describe the idea in plain English and Relaxfolio returns a researchable shortlist with the charts, fundamentals, and risks attached.
Educational research tool — not investment advice. A screen is a starting point, not a recommendation.