Sector ETFs Ranks: Cyclicals in the top five

This post highlights the Tactical and longer-term 52-week Ranks for the S&P 500 GICS Level 1 sector ETFs as of the week ending 1/23/2026.

Tactical Ranks

The Top five Tactical Ranks are Materials, Energy, Healthcare, Industrials, and Discretionary.

• Cyclicals - Industrials, Materials, Energy - remain in the top five. Two of these sectors - Industrials and Materials - also rank in the top five in terms of the 52-week ranks.

• Healthcare has shown consistent leadership within the top five over the last 10 weeks but has lost momentum entering 2026. This sector also has a top five 52-week rank.

• Technology dropped out of the top five, replaced by Discretionary.

  
  

The Bottom five Tactical Ranks are Utilities, Financials, Real Estate, Communication Services, and Technology.

• Technology moved into the bottom five, replacing Staples.

• Only Real Estate has remained in the bottom five over the last 10 weeks but has improved from its worst levels in recent weeks.

• Utilities have had a bottom five ranking over the last eight weeks.

• Real Estate, Financials, and Utilities also have bottom five 52-week Ranks - see below for more

Table 1: Historical S&P 500 GICs level 1 sector Tactical Ranks history for last 10 weeks

52-week Ranks

The Top Five 52-week Ranks are Technology, Communication Services, Industrials, Materials, and Healthcare.

• Technology, Communication Services, and Industrials show solid long-term rankings, holding top five positions consistently over the last 10 weeks. These are the only sectors stronger than the S&P 500 over the last year.

• Technology has ranked first over the last 10 weeks.

• Communication Services has held a top 2 to 3 position over the last 10 weeks.

The Bottom Five 52-week Ranks are Real Estate, Financials, Staples, Discretionary, and Utilities. Energy moved out of the bottom five replaced by Utilities.

• Real Estate and Consumer Staples have ranked in the bottom five over the last 10 weeks, reinforcing persistent relative underperformance and a clear absence of longer-term leadership.

• Only Real Estate is down over the last 52 weeks.

  
  

Table 2: Historical S&P 500 GICs level 1 sector 52-week Ranks history for last 10 weeks