The two names that had been the sector's clean, healthy-on-every-window performers both cooled off sharply this week: Dow ($DOW) and LyondellBasell ($LYB) each saw RSI drop more than 10 points and price fall on the week, and Dow slipped below its 200-day average for the first time in this scan series. No name broke down outright — RSI still sits at 43.7 or higher across all eight core tickers, and none crossed into oversold territory — but the sector's story flipped from "two clean winners, five quiet laggards" to a more even split. DuPont ($DD) remains the sector's best long-horizon performer by a wide margin, up 40.62% over the past year with the sector's best alpha, even though its short-term trend is still tagged weak-down.

Data as-of the 2026-08-28 close for all nine tickers, including the sector ETF ($XLB). All numbers from the pre-computed chemicals summary. Comparison scan: the August 21, 2026 close — a normal one-week gap; XLB is newly included in this scan's cohort, so no prior comparison exists for it.

Dow and LyondellBasell, the two names that read as clean strength on both the short and long window last scan, both cooled this week. Dow's RSI eased from 59.4 to 48.4 and its short-term trend downgraded from "up" to "weak-up"; its price fell from $32.35 to $30.51, its 7-day return swung from +4.09% to -5.66%, and — the notable new development — it slipped to 2.5% below its 200-day average, a level it hadn't touched in this scan series. LyondellBasell's RSI eased from 65.7 to 52.6, its trend downgraded from "strong-up" to "up," and its 7-day return also swung negative (-5.72%, was +5.93%), though it remains 6.2% above its 200-day. Neither move is a breakdown — both names are still in "up"-tagged trends with double-digit one-year gains (Dow +24.18%, LyondellBasell +13.98%) — but the clean-strength read from two scans ago no longer holds without qualification.

The rest of the sector's story is largely unchanged. DuPont remains tagged weak-down on the short window for a second straight scan, with RSI easing slightly to 43.7 and its 7-day return improving to -1.00% (was -5.46%), but it's still the sector's standout on every long-horizon measure: up 40.62% over the past year, 0.5% above its 200-day, and the sector's best alpha at +20.75. That combination — a soft short-term trend tag sitting on top of the sector's strongest year — is the same "pullback, not breakdown" read flagged last scan, and it's held. The five names flagged as quiet laggards two scans ago — Sherwin-Williams, Air Products, Linde, Ecolab, and PPG — are still lagging: all five carry one-year changes between -5.82% and +4.43% against alpha readings of -15 to -26 points, essentially unchanged from last scan's -18 to -26 range, despite RSI readings of 47.7 to 57.9 that on their own look constructive. Sherwin-Williams is still the worst of the group on the year, down 5.82% even with a "strong-up" trend tag. The sector ETF, XLB, is newly part of this scan's cohort: it's up 15.41% over the year and 6.7% above its 200-day, but its own alpha (-4.46) sits closer to the sector's laggard cluster than to its two strongest names.

Chemicals' cooling this week lines up with what's happening one sector over: airlines mostly stabilized after two rough scans, but travel-leisure's cruise lines got worse, with Royal Caribbean joining Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line as broken on every long-horizon measure. Dow and LyondellBasell's simultaneous pullback — both are commodity-chemical names tied to industrial demand and energy input costs — is a data point in the same direction, though nothing in the tape ties it to a specific cause. News pulled for both names is dated late June, weeks before this move, and the nearest stock-events entries are July earnings reports — neither confirms or explains this week's reversal, so the driver is unconfirmed from this data.

• Dow: RSI 59.4→48.4 (eased sharply), trend up→weak-up (downgraded), price $32.35→$30.51, 7D +4.09%→-5.66% (reversed negative), 30D +3.52%→+0.20% (decelerated sharply), 52-week-high gap -24.31%→-28.61% (widened); now 2.5% below its 200-day, a new development this scan.
• LyondellBasell: RSI 65.7→52.6 (eased sharply from extended), trend strong-up→up (downgraded), price $67.53→$63.67, 7D +5.93%→-5.72% (reversed negative), 30D +8.36%→+5.26% (decelerated), 52-week-high gap -19.55%→-24.15% (widened).
• Sherwin-Williams: RSI 49.1→47.7 (roughly flat), trend strong-up unchanged, price $346.59→$344.86, 7D -3.48%→-0.51% (improved), 30D +8.34%→+0.28% (decelerated sharply), 52-week-high gap -8.71%→-8.71% (unchanged).
• Air Products: RSI 55.7→57.9 (firmed), trend strong-up unchanged, price $305.10→$308.09, 7D -1.22%→+0.97% (reversed positive), 30D +2.73%→+4.70% (accelerated), 52-week-high gap -3.10%→-2.15% (narrowed, near its 52-week high).
• Linde: RSI 45.6→48.2 (firmed), trend weak-down unchanged, price $487.57→$489.51, 7D +0.97%→+0.41% (roughly flat), 30D -4.15%→-4.24% (roughly flat, still negative), 52-week-high gap -11.06%→-10.71% (roughly flat).
• Ecolab: RSI 54.4→57.4 (firmed), trend strong-up unchanged, price $281.63→$286.75, 7D +2.00%→+1.82% (roughly flat), 30D +5.53%→+1.08% (decelerated), 52-week-high gap -8.94%→-7.28% (narrowed).
• PPG: RSI 46.5→48.5 (roughly flat), trend weak-down unchanged, price $113.63→$114.22, 7D -0.44%→+0.48% (reversed slightly positive), 30D -3.20%→+2.14% (reversed positive), 52-week-high gap -14.84%→-14.40% (roughly flat).
• DuPont: RSI 44.8→43.7 (roughly flat), trend weak-down unchanged, price $138.33→$136.98, 7D -5.46%→-1.00% (improved), 30D -0.94%→-0.81% (roughly flat), 52-week-high gap -12.44%→-13.29% (widened slightly).

RSI (Relative Strength Index) gauges how aggressively a stock has been bought or sold over roughly the past two weeks, on a 0-100 scale — under 30 signals an oversold, potentially undervalued stretch; over 70 signals overbought, extended risk; readings in between are neutral. Trend reflects a stock's structural direction based on its moving averages over the past several weeks — it is a short-window read, not a verdict on the multi-year story. vs SMA shows how far price sits above or below its 20-day average. The one-year change and the distance from the 200-day average are the longer-horizon check: a stock trading above its 200-day with a solidly positive one-year gain is in an intact multi-year uptrend even during a rough week; a stock that's flat-to-negative on the year despite a healthy short-trend tag is quietly lagging, not actually strong.

RSI < 25 (Oversold): None this scan.

RSI 25-40 (Approaching Oversold): None this scan — the whole sector sits at RSI 43.7 or higher.

RSI 40+ (Neutral-to-Strong) — the whole sector: All nine names sit here, but the one-year window splits them into groups. Dow (48.4) and LyondellBasell (52.6) are still up double digits over the year but both cooled sharply this scan and Dow slipped below its 200-day, ending last scan's "healthy on both windows" read without qualification. DuPont (43.7) remains weak-down on the short window but is the sector's best long-horizon performer (+40.62% 1Y, +20.75 alpha). Sherwin-Williams (47.7), Air Products (57.9), Linde (48.2), Ecolab (57.4), and PPG (48.5) carry constructive-to-neutral short readings but stay flat-to-negative over the full year with 15-26 points of negative alpha — the sector's persistent quiet laggards. XLB (56.9), the sector ETF, sits closer to the laggard group on alpha (-4.46) despite a healthy +15.41% one-year gain.

Does Dow's slip below its 200-day resolve quickly, or does it join the sector's laggard cluster on the long-horizon window too? Does DuPont's short-term trend ever confirm its year-long strength, or does the sector keep treating it as weak-down regardless? And does the same-week softening here, in airlines' stabilization, and in travel-leisure's now-fully-broken cruise-line trio add up to a broader read, or stay three separate, unconnected moves.

• Tape data (price/RSI/SMA/returns): pre-computed summaries as of the 2026-08-28 close — chemicals.
• Comparison figures: 2026-08-22-chemicals (2026-08-21 close); XLB has no prior comparison scan.
• Cross-sector read: airlines, travel-leisure (same 2026-08-28 close).
• News/event check on Dow and LyondellBasell's reversal: latest and latest (both fetched late June 2026, predate this move) and research/stock-events/ (nearest entries are July earnings reports) — driver unconfirmed from this data.