Stagnant XLP peaks at $75.49 amid sluggish price action

Thursday at a glance: without a clear direction, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund closed at $75.36 while ranging between $74.91 and $75.49.

Uncertainty around Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund is reflected by published market data as data for United States Unemployment Rate published yesterday at 12:30 UTC came out at 3.5, beating projections of 3.6 and showing improvement over the preceding figure of 3.6. United States Non Farm Payrolls fell short of the 239,000 projections, with new data of 236,000. United States CFTC Crude Oil speculative net positions released yesterday at 20:30 UTC with a figure of 226,100, while the previous figure was 181,100.

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund made an initial break below its 3 day Simple Moving Average at $75.12, a possible indication of a forthcoming negative trend. Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund's upper Bollinger Band® is at $76, suggesting that a downward move may follow. In contrast, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund is approaching key support, around 34 cents away from $75. Dipping below could indicate further losses are ahead while a failure to break below this level is likely to be seen positively by market bulls.

According to technical indicators, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund is positioned for a downward move in the short term.

While Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund was pretty flat Thursday, mixed performances were seen elsewhere as Alphabet went up by 3.76% Thursday, and closed at $108.9. Alibaba is trading around $102.74 after ending Thursday's session at $98.55 (up 4.25% today). Microsoft is trading around $291.6 after ending Thursday's session at $284.34 (up 2.55% today).

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund has appreciated 13.34% over the past six months.