The tape cooled hard this week — tech led the retreat (QQQ RSI 53.1→42.1, XLK RSI 52.9→42.4, both flipping trend flags from strong-up to weak-down) while energy kept accelerating (XLE RSI 50.3→62.3, USO up 14.04% in seven days). No death cross has appeared in any of the six core index ETFs, so the broad uptrend is still technically intact, but the cushion that existed two weeks ago is mostly gone. DIA's bar is dated 2026-07-16 (rate-limited today); SPY, QQQ, IWM, VTI, and RSP are all fresh 2026-07-17 reads (market-pulse.json).

FROTH READ: vs VWAP = how far current price sits above/below the volume-weighted average buyer across the full history. Names >50% above VWAP are parabolic; names below VWAP have traded back through their entire average-buyer cost basis.

The core index story is still intact but visibly weaker. SPY, QQQ, DIA, IWM, VTI, and RSP all remain free of death crosses, but RSI has come down across the board — SPY 59.7→48.7, VTI 59.7→48.4, RSP 61.0→55.0 — and QQQ's trend flag flipped outright from strong-up to weak-down (RSI 53.1→42.1, 30-day change from +1.28% to -6.01%, gap to its 52-week high widening from -3.09% to -7.12%). RSP staying the steadiest of the six (RSI 55.0, only -1.39% off its own 52-week high) still argues this is broad participation cooling, not a narrow-leadership breakdown.

Sector rotation shows the clearest split on the whole dashboard. XLK cracked hard — RSI fell from 52.9 to 42.4, its 30-day change flipped from +1.52% to -8.17%, and its gap to its 52-week high nearly doubled to -11.64%, tech's worst stretch on this board in months. XLE went the opposite direction and took over as the strongest sector: RSI climbed from 50.3 to 62.3, the 30-day change flipped from -2.87% to +8.04%, and the gap to its 52-week high narrowed from -13.21% to -9.11%. XLC remains the one death-crossed sector and, despite a small bounce, is still -8.1% off its high — structurally the weakest name in the group.

Commodities and vol both moved. USO's bounce turned into a real trend — a +14.04% week pushed RSI from 40.1 to 58.9 and narrowed the 52-week gap from -29.45% to -19.55%, tracking XLE's move. SLV kept deteriorating, now -53.76% off its 52-week high and still in "collapse" regime, still the worst chart on the dashboard. Vol wasn't quite as dead today either — VIXY and VXX both jumped roughly 5% intraday (VIXY +5.3%, VXX +4.8%, market-pulse.json change1d) alongside the broad equity pullback, though both remain in "collapse" regime overall, a one-day wobble rather than a regime change.

The bond death-cross story from two weeks ago hasn't resolved. TLT is still death-crossed and strong-down at RSI 43.5 (barely up from 39.9), while IEF's trend label flipped from strong-down to weak-up even though it also remains death-crossed — a genuinely mixed signal, not a clean reversal. HYG staying steady near RSI 52-56 across both reads keeps arguing this is a rates story, not a credit-quality scare. International cooled broadly (EWJ, VWO, EEM all down double-digit RSI points) except FXI, the lone improver, still death-crossed but bouncing off its capitulation-adjacent low. Momentum (MTUM) had the sharpest factor-level crack: RSI fell from 50.4 to 41.1 and its 30-day change flipped from +0.98% to -10.76%.

1. QQQ's trend flag flipped: strong-up → weak-down (RSI 53.1→42.1, 30D +1.28%→-6.01%, gap to high -3.09%→-7.12%) — the clearest crack in the broad-index leadership picture, though still no death cross.
2. XLK cracked hard: RSI 52.9→42.4, 30D +1.52%→-8.17%, gap to high -6.52%→-11.64% — tech's worst two-week stretch on this board.
3. SMH cracked in tandem: RSI 51.1→41.2, 30D +0.26%→-15.66%, gap to high -9.05%→-17.16% — the biggest single reversal on the whole dashboard.
4. XLE/USO turned a bounce into a trend: XLE RSI 50.3→62.3 (30D -2.87%→+8.04%); USO +14.04% 7D, RSI 40.1→58.9, gap to high -29.45%→-19.55%. Energy is now the strongest complex on the board.
5. MTUM (Momentum factor) cracked: RSI 50.4→41.1, 30D +0.98%→-10.76%, gap to high -6.89%→-12.59% — the most-extended factor two weeks ago is now the weakest.
6. International broadly cooled: EWJ (RSI 55.9→41.7), VWO (53.3→41.6), EEM (49.5→39.4) all fell hard; FXI is the exception, bouncing from RSI 50.5→55.7 while remaining the group's only death-crossed name.
7. Bond death-cross regime unresolved: TLT still strong-down/death-crossed (RSI 39.9→43.5); IEF's trend flipped to weak-up but stays death-crossed (RSI 45.0→49.7) — mixed, not healed. HYG steady (RSI 55.7→51.7) still says no credit stress.
8. Vol popped intraday but stayed structurally dead: VIXY/VXX both up ~5% on the day (change1d), RSI climbing from the low-30s to high-40s, though both remain in "collapse" regime.
9. SLV kept deteriorating: -50.88%→-53.76% off its 52-week high, still in "collapse" regime — the worst chart on the dashboard, unchanged from two weeks ago.
10. XLRE and XLP mildly improved: XLRE RSI 51.7→59.4 (gap to high -2.63%→-1.14%); XLP RSI 51.6→55.3 (gap to high -6.68%→-5.49%) — the two bright spots among otherwise-cooling sectors.
11. QUAL's data is fresh again: no longer lagging a day as it did on 07-11 (now a same-day 2026-07-17 read).

RSI < 30 = capitulation/oversold zone (context-dependent — check trend and death-cross flags before treating as a buy signal). RSI 30-50 = neutral-to-recovering. RSI 50-70 = healthy uptrend. RSI > 70 = overbought/extended. "vs VWAP" shows distance from the average buyer's cost basis across the instrument's full history — a rough measure of how "paid up" the current price is. A death cross (50-day average below the 200-day) flags a structurally damaged trend even when short-term RSI looks fine.

Read: No death crosses anywhere in this group — the broad uptrend is technically intact — but RSI has come down across the board and QQQ's trend flag flipped from strong-up to weak-down, the first real crack in the leadership picture. RSP staying steadiest (only -1.39% from its own 52-week high) still argues for broad participation, not five megacaps carrying the tape.

Read: XLE has taken over as the strongest sector on the board (RSI 62.3, gap to high narrowed to -9.11%) — a real trend, not a one-week bounce. XLK is the mirror image: RSI collapsed from 52.9 to 42.4, its gap to its 52-week high nearly doubled, and it just had its worst two weeks on this board. XLC remains the sole death-crossed sector, still -8.1% off its high despite a small bounce.

Read: International cooled broadly — EWJ and EEM both had sharp two-week declines (RSI down double digits) — while FXI is the only improver in the group, bouncing from RSI 50.5 to 55.7 even though it remains the lone death-crossed name.

Read: The bond death-cross story from two weeks ago hasn't resolved. TLT is still strong-down and death-crossed at RSI 43.5, barely up from 39.9; IEF's trend flipped to weak-up but stays death-crossed — a genuinely mixed signal, not a clean reversal. HYG holding steady near RSI 52-56 across both reads still argues this is a rates move, not credit stress.

Read: USO is the standout — RSI jumped from 40.1 to 58.9 on a +14.04% week, and its 52-week gap narrowed from -29.45% to -19.55% in six days, matching XLE's move. SLV keeps deteriorating and is now more than half off its 52-week high, still the single worst chart on the dashboard.

Read: Vol wasn't quite as dead today — both products jumped roughly 5% intraday alongside the broad equity pullback, and RSI climbed from the low-30s two weeks ago into the high-40s. Both remain in "collapse" regime and roughly a quarter below their own VWAP, so this reads as a one-day wobble inside a still risk-on backdrop, not a regime change.

Read: Value and Quality remain the steadiest factors, both still within 2% of their 52-week highs. Momentum is the biggest mover — RSI fell from 50.4 to 41.1, its 30-day change flipped from +0.98% to -10.76%, and its gap to its high nearly doubled to -12.59%: the most-extended factor two weeks ago just cracked. QUAL's data is a same-day 2026-07-17 read, no longer lagging a day as it did last time.

Read: SMH is the single biggest reversal on the whole dashboard — RSI fell from 51.1 to 41.2, its 30-day change flipped from +0.26% to -15.66%, and its gap to its 52-week high nearly doubled. XBI continues cooling in an orderly way (RSI 65.5→55.1) but stays in a clean strong-up trend, unlike SMH's outright breakdown.

None on this board.

SLV (34.4), UNG (37.8), EEM (39.4), GLD (40.0). All structurally weak or death-crossed — SLV/GLD/UNG are in confirmed downtrends and EEM is a weak-down emerging-market name; none of these read as constructive dip-buys on the tape alone.

Everything else — all six broad indices, most sector ETFs (XLK now the exception at 42.4), most international/bond/factor names, and XBI/XHB/ITB in the industry group. Still, broadly, a healthy-tape reading, just meaningfully cooler than two weeks ago.

• Whether XLK/SMH's crack is a real trend change or a sharp-but-temporary digestion of a multi-quarter run.
• Whether XLE/USO's rally keeps extending into a durable energy leadership shift, or fades back into the multi-month laggard pattern.
• Whether today's vol pop (VIXY/VXX +5% intraday) is a one-day wobble or the start of a real risk-off move.
• Whether TLT/IEF's death cross ever resolves — HYG staying strong-up remains the tell that credit isn't panicking.
• SLV's continued deterioration — now more than half off its 52-week high with no stabilizing signal yet.

• Tape data (price/RSI/SMA/returns): full-scan pre-computed summaries as of the 2026-07-17 close — *.