• Hot Stove Analysis

Here’s one of the few sectors showing a gain in October.

October 2018 will go down as one of the worst months in decades for the technology sector.

For instance, the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE: XLK), whose top holdings include Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Oracle, Abode, NVIDIA, IBM, and even Visa and Mastercard, has now dropped more than 9% this month, making this one of the worst monthly losses since 2008. Ouch.

In the midst of the heavy selling pressure, it’s often worth noting which sector groups are actually showing gains. This sort of “hot stove” analysis can offer you a safety net in case the markets continue to fall. This leads us to today’s featured pick on the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE: XLU).

Admittedly, the top holdings in the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF don’t carry nearly as much firepower as the tech names in the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF. After all, we’re talking about names like NextEra Energy, Duke Energy, Dominion Energy, Exelon and PG&E. However, here’s what you can get excited about:

While XLK has dropped more than 9% this month, XLU has actually gained 1.4% in October.

At a time when everything else is getting crushed, sometimes the less flashy position is actually the safest and smartest.