The XLI Industrial ETF is up approximately 18% year to date, yet it has largely gone unnoticed through the first 10 months of the year — even while outperforming the S & P 500 (+17%). There are two main reasons for this. First, it has clearly lagged the XLK Technology ETF , which leads the market with a 31% gain year-to-date. Second, XLI has made very little net progress in recent months; since its July’25 highs, it’s currently up less than 1%. Today, we’ll take a closer look at XLI and highlight how it’s nearing a potential breakout that could also lead to renewed relative strength in the weeks ahead. This first chart illustrates the consolidation range described above, shown here as a trading box. Trading boxes are a simple way to categorize sideways price action, and when they form within a longer-term uptrend, they are typically viewed as bullish continuation patterns. We last saw a similar structure — though over a shorter duration — from mid-May to late June. That digestion followed a strong breakout earlier in May and ultimately led to the next leg higher that carried into the end of July. Some investors might view the recent inability to breakout to new highs as a negative, especially while other sectors continue to rally. However, momentum tells a different story: While the 14-day RSI has cooled from its prior extremes, it has merely neutralized, reflecting a healthy period of consolidation. Importantly, there has been no meaningful negative momentum divergence, supporting the view that this remains a pause — rather than a trend reversal. Zooming out to the monthly chart, going all the way back to 2011, the same trading range is highlighted here in yellow at the very top right corner of the chart. It has taken shape above what could be a substantial multi-year base breakout. If past behavior is any guide, this could be a meaningful start to a much bigger move. Over the years, XLI has recorded four other major breakouts to new all-time highs, and each one has led to months — and sometimes years — of additional upside follow-through. This supports a bullish scenario once again for XLI, with the current consolidation potentially serving as the next launching pad for trend continuation. The next question is whether investors should rotate into XLI, given that it has recently trailed technology, as discussed above. While the performance gap is notable, it is actually a very recent development. Remember, XLI has been directionless for a few months, but as recently as mid-September, XLI and XLK were nearly identical in year-to-date performance. It’s only over the last several weeks that technology has begun to materially outperform again. With many of the most influential megacap technology and growth companies reporting earnings over the next two days — and several already extended after multi-day winning streaks — there is a risk that the momentum in that trade could start to fade. Should that occur, capital may begin to rotate back into sectors that are just now attempting to break out of substantial bases — such as XLI. This final chart highlights the XLI vs. XLK relative performance ratio. As is clear, this ratio has been in a steady downtrend for the past five years, meaning technology has consistently outperformed industrials over that period. However, there have been multiple points where the ratio has reversed higher, favoring industrials — often after a significant stretch of underperformance by XLI. It’s been 28 weeks since the XLI/XLK last peaked in mid-April. Since then XLI has underperformed XLK by roughly 20%. Notably, this degree of underperformance over a 28-week period has happened three other times since 2020, each highlighted on the chart. In those instances, the reversals resulted soon thereafter each time: Mid-2020 through mid-2021 Most of 2022 into early 2023 And a shorter bounce in spring 2023 before XLK regained leadership Given how deeply depressed this relative performance line has become again, history suggests that we may be near another mean-reversion inflection point — potentially favoring XLI soon. — Frank Cappelleri Founder: https://cappthesis.com DISCLOSURES: None. All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC UNIVERSAL, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . 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NEW YORK — Microsoft says users of its Azure cloud portal may be not be able to access Office 365, Minecraft or other services due to issues with its domain name system.
The tech company posted a note to its Azure status page that its teams are currently investigating the issue and acting to mitigate access problems.
The domain name system, or DNS, is the service that translates internet addresses into machine-readable IP addresses that connects browsers and apps with websites and underlying web services. DNS errors disrupt the translation process, interrupting the connection.
Because so many sites and services use Microsoft’s cloud service, a DNS error can have widespread results.
On Downdetector, a website that tracks online outages, users reported issues with Office 365, Minecraft, X-Box Live, Copilot and many other services.
Heathrow, NatWest and Minecraft are among some of the sites and services experiencing problems amid a global Microsoft outage.
Outage tracker Downdetector showed thousands of reports of issues with a number of websites globally on Wednesday.
Microsoft said some users of Microsoft 365, which includes Outlook and Teams, might see delays.
The company’s Azure cloud computing platform, which underpins large parts of the internet, reported a “degradation of some services” at 1600 GMT.
It said this was due to “DNS issues” – the same root cause of the huge Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage last week.
Amazon says AWS is currently operating normally.
Other impacted sites in the UK include supermarket Asda and mobile phone operator O2 – while in the US, people have reported issues accessing the websites of coffee chain Starbucks and retailer Kroger.
Microsoft said business Microsoft 365 customers might see problems.
It said it had found parts of its infrastructure with connectivity issues, and was working to “reroute affected traffic to restore service health”.
It has started a thread on X with updates after some users reported they could not access the service status page.
Meanwhile, business at the Scottish Parliament has been suspended because of technical issues with the parliament’s online voting system.
A senior Scottish Parliament source told BBC News they believe the problems are related to the Microsoft outage.
Microsoft has been contacted for comment.
Azure’s crucial role online
On its service status page, Azure’s network infrastructure was showing as “critical” in every region in the world.
Exactly how much of the internet is impacted is unclear, but estimates typically put Microsoft Azure at around 20% of the global cloud market.
The firm said it believed the outage was a result of “an inadvertent configuration change”.
In other words, a behind-the-scenes system was changed, with unintended consequences.
Microsoft said it plans on fixing the problem by effectively replacing its service with a recent backup it knows was working properly.
But it could not give an estimate for how long this would take.
The concentration of cloud services into Microsoft, Amazon and Google means an outage like this “can cripple hundreds, if not thousands of applications and systems,” said Dr Saqib Kakvi, from Royal Holloway University.
“Due to cost of hosting web content, economic forces lead to consolidation of resources into a few very large players, but it is effectively putting all our eggs in one of three baskets.”
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Billionaire media mogul John Malone, the so-called “Cable Cowboy”, is stepping down as chair of his powerful empire.
Malone will stand aside in January from his roles overseeing Liberty Media, owner of Formula One, and Liberty Global, the firm behind telecommunications operator Virgin Media O2, it was announced today.
Through decades of deal-making, Malone became a groundbreaking figure in the modern telecom and TV industries, as he bought and sold a string of cable and media companies and stakes and amassed a sprawling portfolio.
“I’m stepping back a notch,” Malone told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, stressing that he would now focus on strategy, deal-making and being “a cheerleader for management”.
Malone does not plan to “get as involved in the operational details of these businesses”, he added. The move was first reported by the Financial Times.
He will become emeritus chair of Liberty Media and Liberty Global, the Journal reported, and remain a controlling shareholder.
In Malone’s place, Mike Fries, Liberty Global’s longtime CEO, will become chair. Robert “Dob” Bennett, a veteran executive within Malone’s orbit, will become chair of Liberty Media.
“I’m not retiring from business,” Malone said in a statement. “But I am looking to reduce travel and time commitments.”
Along with Fox’s Rupert Murdoch and Viacom founder Sumner Redstone, Malone reshaped the media landscape. His decision to step back from his business leaves the 94-year-old Murdoch as the last of his generation of media moguls to be actively involved in his media business. Redstone died, aged 97, in 2020.
Malone, 84, has a personal net worth of about $10.6bn, according to Bloomberg. Beyond his corporate roles, he is also one of the largest landowners in the US. He and his wife, Leslie, acquired about 2.2m acres (890,000 hectares) of land in the US.
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When asked about the prospect of retirement last month, he joked that he had been telling his wife he would retire since the age of 30.
“It is slow because I’ve been involved in so many things,” Malone told Bloomberg News. “To me in, uh, retirement is primarily extricating myself from the public corporate roles that I play. I have a ton of private businesses, everything from ranching, farming, forestry, multifamily, horse racing. You know, I got a lot of things that I’m still saying grace over.”
Malone planned to maintain his control over “the various enterprises from which I will be slowly leaving the boards”, he stressed.
Sian McKinnon told BBC Scotland News there was “no logic” to the plans at Blair Hill
Councillors have agreed to oppose a wind farm in the Galloway Hills – triggering a public inquiry into the plans.
Opponents of the 14-turbine Blair Hill project near Newton Stewart gathered outside Dumfries and Galloway Council offices to highlight their concerns.
Planning committee councillors agreed to object to the plans due to concerns over the impact on a regional scenic area (RSA).
Developer RES said it was disappointed the local authority had opposed what it described as a “well-designed project”.
Robert Burton said the nearest turbines would be close to his parents’ home
Protesters from the Hands Off Our Hills group gathered outside the council offices in Dumfries before the development was discussed to raise their concerns about the proposal.
Robert Burton grew up in a house close to the development site where his parents – both in their 70s – still live.
He said their world had “fallen apart”.
“The nearest turbines are only one kilometre from the house and more worrying is the access road to the site,” he said.
“It is a couple of hundred metres away from the back of the house and very close to the private water supply as well.”
Protesters gathered outside council headquarters to make their feelings known
Another protester, Sian McKinnon, told BBC Scotland News she believed the scheme was unnecessary.
“We have enough renewable energy in Scotland – we overproduce,” she said.
“So this is about exporting energy to England. This is not helping us and our communities, it is not helping us in our approach to net zero.
“It doesn’t make sense, there is no logic to this – it is about making money for companies.”
Developers said the project could generate enough electricity to meet the annual needs of more than 115,000 homes.
They added that it could save more than eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over its operational life as well as providing a community benefits package of nearly £25m.
However, councillors decided to follow officer recommendations and oppose the plans, which now means they will go to public inquiry.
They had concerns about the impact on a scenic area, how lighting might affect the Galloway Dark Sky Park and the effect on a “highly valued upland landscape”.
Sarah McArthur, development project manager at RES, said: “Blair Hill is a well-designed project, which carefully considers the local landscape and environment.
“Naturally we’re disappointed that an objection has been raised, particularly when Blair Hill has the potential to deliver discounted electricity for local residents, an £87m boost to the economy and up to £55m in business rates to support vital local services.”
GSK’s outgoing chief executive, Emma Walmsley, has said Britain will struggle to be a “life sciences superpower” unless it overhauls drug pricing.
As ministers draw up proposals to increase the amount the NHS spends on new medicines by up to 25%, Walmsley said she was “hopeful and ambitious” that the standoff with the pharma industry could be resolved.
According to the Academy of Medical Sciences, the government’s drug pricing announcement could come by the end of this week.
Walmsley, who will hand over the top job to Luke Miels, currently GSK’s chief commercial officer, at the end of the year, said: “What everyone is putting their energy into, hopefully resolving, is how we make sure this country creates the right commercial environment.
“Without that, it’s going to be very difficult to be able to be a leading life sciences superpower, which is what we want … and we are not going to secure something else we all want, which is patient access to innovation.”
A potential deal between industry and government is tied up with negotiations with Donald Trump’s administration over drug pricing, after the US president put pressure on companies to lower their prices – historically much higher than elsewhere – and invest in the US, or face trade tariffs.
Walmsley noted that the NHS spends less than 10% of its budget on medicines, a lower figure than in the past. Her remarks came a day after the science minister, Patrick Vallance, said that “some degree of price increase is inevitable”.
He told MPs on the science committee: “For brand new, innovative medicines it’s likely there will be some price increase.”
A price rise will require additional funding for the NHS at a time when Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, faces tough decisions to balance the books, and is likely to breach Labour’s election promises not to raise one of the big three taxes of VAT, income tax and national insurance.
“We’ve discussed the fact that if there’s a rise in price for innovative medicines, that comes with a cost load, and that needs to be met,” Lord Vallance said.
The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, representing trusts and other health organisations, said this week that the cost of covering redundancies and strikes, along with paying more for medicines, was not included in the budget and would need extra cash from the chancellor.
While GSK is investing $30bn in US manufacturing and research, Walmsley reaffirmed the company’s support of the UK’s life sciences strategy and its commitment to Britain. This is in contrast with other pharmaceutical groups that have scrapped or paused investments in the UK, including MSD, known as Merck in the US, and its British rival AstraZeneca.
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GSK raised its 2025 sales and profit forecasts, driven by double-digit growth in respiratory, inflammation and immunology, oncology and HIV treatments. Shares in GSK jumped by almost 6%, making it one of the biggest risers on the FTSE 100.
The company reported a pre-tax profit of £2.5bn for the third quarter, compared with £64m a year earlier, which reflected the $2.2bn (about £1.7bn) settlement of US court cases over claims that its Zantac drug caused cancer. GSK denies that the drug caused cancer.
Vaccine sales rose by 2% to £2.7bn in the quarter to 30 September, mainly driven by sales outside the US. In the US, GSK reported a 15% drop in sales of its shingles vaccine, Shingrix.
Vaccination rates in the US have slowed since Robert Kennedy Jr, an anti-vaxxer, became health secretary. He has cut funding for research and ousted the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Walmsley said: “We remain very cautious about the environment in the US.”
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