US equities are finally getting a reprieve from selling today, although there's still time for the market to reverse

US equities are finally getting a reprieve from selling today, although there's still time for the market to reverse. Today's earnings reactions were on the positive side, while factory orders for December fell slightly less than expected. Still, the damage has been fairly harsh in some sectors. One of the hardest hit groups this year has been retail stocks. According to Bespoke Investment Group, S&P 500 retail stocks are down 9% so far this year. That's the worst start to a year since 2000. Judging by historical standards, it make take until March for retail stocks to recover. Regarding the sectors, three have been hit harder than the others and are clearly in oversold territory based on standard deviations from the 50-day moving average. Those three are energy, consumer discretionary, and consumer staples. Utilities is the only sector above average, as expected. (VIEW LINK) (VIEW LINK)