Tech Roars Back As Energy Falters In A Sudden Market Power Shift

James Picerno 7K Followers Follow Summary The S&P 500 Index soared on Tuesday (Aug. 4) to a record high, exceeding the previous peak (set in early June) by a wide margin. Year-to-date, energy is still holding the top spot, based on a set of ETFs through the day’s close. The SPDR Energy ETF is posting a 32.7% gain in 2026, slightly ahead of tech’s 30.1% rise, based on the SPDR Technology ETF. But yesterday’s market action for energy and tech stocks highlights a divergence. While tech (XLK) soared 5.0% on Tuesday, energy (XLE) dipped 0.5%. primeimages/iStock via Getty Images Energy stocks are still the year’s top-performing sector, but yesterday’s tech-led surge in equities - and energy’s stumble - suggest another leadership change may be brewing. The S&P 500 Index soared on Tuesday (Aug. 4) to a record This article was written by James Picerno 7K Followers Follow James Picerno is the director of analytics at The Milwaukee Co., a wealth manager that is the adviser to The Brinsmere Funds, a pair of global asset allocation ETFs. He also edits CapitalSpectator.com and The US Business Cycle Research Report (CapitalSpectator.com/premium-research). He is the author of three books, including "Quantitative Investment Portfolio Analytics In R: An Introduction To R For Modeling Portfolio Risk and Return." Previously he was a financial journalist at Bloomberg and before that at Dow Jones.