Today is one ugly day for the tech sector. This morning, the Nasdaq Composite is trading lower by 2.67%. The popular Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) which represents the Nasdaq-100 is now testing the pivot low from September 20th which was $360.93 a share. A close below this key level will be a very big negative for the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ). Obviously, the catalyst for the decline in tech is due to the recent rise in bond yields. Technology stocks are very sensitive to higher interest rates.  

One of the leading tech stocks in the market is Microsoft Corp (MSFT). This stock has cut below its September 20th pivot low like a hot knife through butter. Microsoft Corp (MSFT) is trading lower by $9.24 to $284.90 a share. When market leading growth names fall apart it is time to get more conservative in the tech sector. Some other notable decliners today include Alphabet (GOOG) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN). Both of these mega-cap tech names are trading lower by more than 3.0%. 

The semiconductors are also coming under heavy selling pressure. The popular VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) is trading lower by 3.63%. When the semiconductor stocks drop this sharply it will put many money managers on the fence and they will often avoid any new buying in the tech sector. At this time, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) is trading below its important 50-day moving average. This now puts this industry group in a weak technical position on the charts. 

Cloud software is also very weak today. The popular iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) is also trading below its important 50-day moving average. This popular ETF has also broken below the September 20th pivot low. This puts the cloud software stocks in a very fragile position on the charts. 

Opportunities in this market will likely be in a lot of other important areas outside of the technology sector. When interest rates rise it will usually hurt technology stocks the most. Right now, many industry groups could come under pressure in the near term, but there will be opportunities in many other areas. The way to find the next group of winners will be to see what has relative strength when the markets decline. This process will take a little bit of time, but it should be easy to identify in the coming weeks.