Tech’s Broad, But Relatively Shallow, Four-Day Slide

The Technology sector of the S&P 500 fell 0.73% yesterday for its fourth consecutive down day. It was also the sector’s fourth straight day of negative net breadth. Paired together, it’s the first time since February 25, 2025, that Tech has closed lower and seen more decliners than advancers in at least four straight sessions. As shown below, the combination has become less common following a cluster of occurrences around the 2022 bear market.

Despite the consistency of the weakness, the price damage has been relatively modest. Technology declined 3.21% during the current streak, making it the smallest drop among all 16 occurrences in the last five years. The average and median declines were 5.96% and 5.11%, respectively.

That relatively modest sector-level decline masks deeper losses among individual stocks. From the August 13 close through yesterday, only 15 Technology stocks have traded higher, compared with 58 that have declined. Marvell Technology (MRVL) has led the gainers with a 6.8% advance, but all ten of the biggest losers have fallen at least 9.9%. Broadcom (AVGO) has been down the most at 13.2%.

These streaks haven’t consistently marked an immediate low, though. Technology was higher one week later only 53% of the time, with an average gain of 1.17%. One month later, the sector averaged a stronger gain of 4.10%, although it was still lower following five of the 15 prior occurrences. The results became more consistent over longer periods. Technology was higher three months later 73% of the time, six months later in 13 of 15 cases, and one year later in 12 of 15. Average returns increased to 7.02% after three months, 16.52% after six months, and 30.69% after one year.

Some context is important when looking at those longer-term figures. Eight of the 15 previous streaks occurred during 2022, including several after Technology had already suffered a substantial decline. Those lower starting points contributed to some of the strongest six- and twelve-month returns in the table.

The latest streak has arrived much closer to the sector’s recent highs and produced less price damage than any previous occurrence. History doesn’t suggest that four straight days of declining prices and negative breadth reliably mark the exact end of the weakness. The sector was higher more often than not once the time horizon extended beyond the next several weeks, but the current occurrence is starting from a considerably different position than many of those that produced the strongest subsequent returns.