Utilties sector showing relative weakness and threatening to re-test its lows - probable sign that broad equities markets running out steam

The utilities sector deserves some coverage so let's take a look. Looking at the waves on the daily chart of this sector ($UTIL), below, it looks to me as if it might actually count out as an initial ABC, then a corrective wave (B or X) in mid-May, then 5 waves up that completed during August. Along with that, check out the indicators, there was real negative divergence with that high in August. If it moves under the 50-day moving average, that may confirm this count which would go along with the idea that it already completed its own bear-market rally (along the lines of a Primary B, using Tony Caldaro's OEW terminology).

Turning to the weekly chart below, you can see that momentum indeed was with the rally into August. But the CCI (cyclic indicator) dropped from an overbought crest. If you are bullish this sector, you'll be thinking in terms of it dropping into a pullback or consolidation. But if it really completed a bear-market rally, and the weekly MACD rolls back down from the zero line, then it may be pointing to the same retest of the lows, or lower, that Elliott Wave suggests for the broader equities markets. There are some who believe that the utilites sector tends to give an early signal of broader market movement, probably because the health of this sector depends on how much economic activity is occurring. If that's right - and I sense that it probably is - then its relative weakness (like that of the banks, which I posted earlier today) is an early clue that the bear-market rally is in its waning stages.