The defensive cohort did not defend on Friday, October 2: 13 of 15 names are below both their 20-day and 200-day averages, and $MCD (RSI 23.8), $LOW (25.4) and $HD (25.8) are all oversold with deeply negative years (-22.67%, -26.9%, -28.39%). Only $TGT (+74.28% on the year, 21.1% above its 200-day) and, marginally, $COST hold their long trends. Staples ($XLP 33.5) and utilities ($XLU 34.2) are weak too, so there is no rotation haven inside this list. Verify before buying the dip that the long trend is repaired: every oversold name here fails the 200-day test.

Data as of the 2026-10-02 settled close; 15 tickers, all carrying a 2026-10-02 bar.

The washout is concentrated in consumer-cyclical names that sit in this list for their defensive reputation. $HD closed at RSI 25.8, 16.6% below its 200-day with a -28.39% year; $LOW is at 25.4, 21.9% below its 200-day, and the engine flags its thesis intact despite the tape; $MCD is at 23.8, 20% below its 200-day with a -22.67% year. All three are oversold with long trends broken, which is not the pullback pattern that earns a dip-buy. News pulls on file for the names discussed here were fetched before the October 2 session closed, so they cannot speak to October 2 moves; the desk's event records were checked for October 1 to 2 and hold no filings for these names. Where a move has no driver below, the cause is unknown for that reason, not because the news was searched and came back empty.

The classic defensives offered little shelter. $XLP is at 33.5 with a +3.32% year, 3.8% below its 200-day; $XLU is at 34.2 with a -9.37% year, 10.3% below its 200-day. $VZ (34.5) and $T (38.1) are both oversold, with $T down 4.26% on the week. $WMT (40.1) sits 11.9% below its 200-day.

The day's movers inside the list were protein names: $PPC gained 9.13% on the day yet remains 18.1% below its 200-day with a -32.8% year, and $TSN gained 2.81%. $TGT is the lone name with a durable long trend, at RSI 47.5, +74.28% on the year and 8.64% below its 52-week high.

• Oversold count: 3 of 15 under RSI 30 ($MCD, $LOW, $HD); none above RSI 70.
• Breadth: 13 of 15 below their 20-day average, 13 of 15 below their 200-day, 9 of 15 with a negative year.
• $PPC's one-day jump (+9.13%) is a bounce inside a broken year, not a trend change.
• This edition carries no week-over-week price or RSI deltas; every figure is as of the October 2 close.

RSI under 30 is oversold. For a defensive board the long-horizon fields matter most: a name above its 200-day with a positive year is a pullback; below it with a negative year is a trend under test. By that test only $TGT passes cleanly here. The board is price-and-RSI only, so a low RSI is raw screen evidence, not a recommendation.

Tape figures below are live-bound to the desk summaries; as-of date is shown per row.

$MCD

$LOW, $HD, $XLP, $XLU, $VZ, $SBUX, $HRL, $T

Of the oversold group, above the 200-day with a positive year (pullbacks): None this scan.. Below the 200-day or with a negative year (trend under test): $LOW, $HD, $XLP, $XLU, $VZ, $SBUX, $HRL, $T.

$WMT, $PPC, $TSN, $ECL, $TGT, $COST

• $HD, $LOW, $MCD: whether any reclaims its 20-day, and whether the RSI-25 area holds as support; the 200-day is the line for a trend repair.
• $XLP and $XLU: with staples and utilities both weak, watch whether the group stabilizes at its 200-day or the weakness broadens.
• $TGT: holding its 200-day (21.1% below the price) is what keeps it the cohort's one working trend.
• $PPC's +9.13% day: cause unknown; news pulled 2026-10-03, no item on the move; stock-events and the October 1-2 captures checked.

• Tape data: pre-computed desk summary for the defensive universe, as of the 2026-10-02 close (defensive).
• latest (fetched 2026-06-21, failed/stale, items concern PPC Ltd of South Africa, not this listing). research/stock-events/ checked for 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-02: no entries for names in this cut.
• Prior scan: 2026-09-25-defensive-scan (structure only).