Equity Clock

Stock Market Outlook for October 21, 2026

Traders leaning into defensive sectors as credit spreads balloon and as strength in high-beta segment fades.

*** Stocks highlighted are for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice to purchase or to sell mentioned securities. As always, the use of technical and fundamental analysis is encouraged in order to fine tune entry and exit points to average seasonal trends.

Stocks Entering Period of Seasonal Strength Today:

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Stock Highlight:
F5 Networks, Inc. (NASD:FFIV) Seasonal Chart	Optimal holding period from October 21st to January 15th Remains within a steady long-term rising trend, supported at its 20-week moving average (~$415) Revenue, Net Income, and Free Cash Flow are showing strong year-over-year gains, benefiting from the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Chemours Co. (NYSE:CC) Seasonal Chart

Cannae Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CNNE) Seasonal Chart

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (TSE:EQL.TO) Seasonal Chart

10x Genomics Inc. (NASD:TXG) Seasonal Chart

Cheesecake Factory Inc. (NASD:CAKE) Seasonal Chart

Science Applications International Corp. (NASD:SAIC) Seasonal Chart

Miller Industries Inc Tn (NYSE:MLR) Seasonal Chart

Manitowoc Co, Inc. (NYSE:MTW) Seasonal Chart

UFP Industries (NASD:UFPI) Seasonal Chart

Disclaimer: Comments and opinions offered in this report are for information only. They should not be considered as advice to purchase or to sell mentioned securities. Data offered is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed.

The Markets

Rotation into defensive sectors was good to add a few points to the S&P 500 Index during Tuesday’s session.   The S&P 500 Index gained just less than three-tenths of one percent, trading to the mid-point of the range that the benchmark has been in since August between 7620 and 7800.  On Friday, the index broke below short-term rising trend channel support that had promoted the recent path of higher-highs and higher-lows in the past month.  The benchmark is struggling around 20 and 50-day moving averages and the 100-day moving average remains a critical line in the sand.  Weakening support raises concerns for the health of stocks moving forward. The market has reached the time of year when volatility starts to peak and roll over through the last couple of months of the year, thereby promoting strength in stocks, but the breakout in the VIX on Friday above declining trendline resistance provides the inkling that the instability that is leaching into the market may just be getting started.  As noted in this week’s chart books, there are segments following last week’s price action that we no longer want to be exposed to, but the market has provided rotation opportunities that allow us to maintain our overall equity exposure. Members can stay on top of our thinking and what we are watching in our regular reports, as well as view what we are targeting in our list of market segments to either Accumulate or Avoid.

Today, in our Market Outlook to subscribers, we discuss the following:

• The gravitation towards defense and what we like in the Health Care sector
• VIX still holding above broken trendline resistance
• Traders shying away from high-beta
• Junk credit spreads reaching up to 2020 levels
• US Housing Starts and the stocks of the home builders
• Additional Thoughts

Subscribers can look for this report in their inbox or by clicking on the following link and logging in: Market Outlook for October 21

Sentiment on Tuesday, as gauged by the put-call ratio, ended bullish at 0.88.

Seasonal charts of companies reporting earnings today:

S&P 500 Index

TSE Composite

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