Times certainly have changed in the stock market, as former "can't miss" stars lag badly and former laggards are ripping higher. One of the areas where this is most evident is in Information Technology (and we have talked about this change several times). Other than Nvidia (NVDA, the "King of AI"), Broadcom (AVGO), and maybe a few others that are hanging very close to all-time highs, the rest of the semiconductor plays have been awash in downtrends since peaking in July 2024. Many of these names have dropped below their 200-day and 50-week averages and are closing in on testing their 21-month exponential averages. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) has declined 18% over the past four months and this week busted its 200-day for the fourth time since August. The SOXX remains above its corrective low from August 7 and currently is testing its important 50-week average. Still, the IT sector (XLK) has rallied since August 7 and made a very minor all-time high just last week. At that peak, XLK had rallied 21% from its corrective low. The largest IT winners over the past three months have been GEV, ORCL, TEAM, CRM, FTNT, DOCU, ZM, MRVL, CSCO, ADSK, WDAY, INTC, NOW, and FFIV. Gains for these stocks range from 28% to 86%. Most of the winners come from cloud computing, cyber security, and software. The largest ETFs in those areas include First Cloud Computing (SKYY), First Trust Cybersecurity (CIBR), and iShares Software (IGV). All three ETFs have shown strong relative strength versus the QQQ and the semis since July. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

Verizon is a leader in the U.S. telecommunications industry. The company was created in July 2000 when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged.

At midday on Friday, the major stock indices are all in the green, but the range is broad. As of this writing, the Dow Jones Industrial is barely higher at +0.03%, the Russell 2000 comes next at +0.52%, the S&P 500 claims third place at +0.70%, and the Nasdaq is far ahead at +1.41%. Driving the action are the ongoing flood of earnings reports, positive consumer sentiment data, and Treasury yields that ticked lower.

Wireless services account for about 70% of Verizon Communications' total service revenue and nearly all of its operating income. The firm serves about 93 million postpaid and 20 million prepaid phone customers via its nationwide network, making it the largest US wireless carrier. Fixed-line telecom operations include local networks in the Northeast, which reach about 30 million homes and businesses and serve about 8 million broadband customers. Verizon also provides telecom services nationwide to enterprise customers, often using a mixture of its own and other carriers' networks. Verizon agreed to acquire Frontier Communications in September 2024.