By Tom Aspray, Contributor As the market continues to trade sideways during earnings season, MoneyShow’s Tom Aspray takes a look at a sector about to enter a seasonally strong period and an attractive stock in that sector.

Another mixed session for stocks on Wednesday as the Dow was hit hard by the 3.3% drop in Boeing Co. (BA). The earnings so far this week have been a plus for the market but it will get another test today. Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) report before the bell and Intel Corp. (INTC) reports after the close.

It may take much better than expected earnings from Intel Corp. (INTC) to change the negative sentiment on the tech sector. The declines in the broad market, like the S&P 500, have been well supported. A strong close above the recent highs will confirm that the correction is over and punish the market skeptics.

Energy was one of the worst performing sectors in 2012 as the Select Sector SPDR Energy (XLE) was up just 7.4% in 2012. This lagged well below the 17.1% gain in the Spyder Trust (SPY). So far in 2013, XLE has done a bit better than SPY but the relative performance analysis has not yet confirmed that it is a market leading sector.

The daily technical picture for the March crude oil contract oil turned positive in the middle of December. It is up 10% from the early December lows, while XLE is up 6.7% from the December 31 low. A look at the seasonal tendencies for crude prices suggests that the energy sector may soon catch up with crude oil prices.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest