Futures Now

Acampora: There’s a ‘split market’ brewing, and investors need to be careful

Key Points
  • The 'godfather of the charts' is warning investors not to get fooled by the market's frothy surface.
  • Certain sectors such as utilities 'are not doing as well,' he said.
Acampora: Charts point to 'split' market & that could spell trouble
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Acampora: Charts point to 'split' market & that could spell trouble

Veteran technician Ralph Acampora has an ominous warning for investors: Beware the split market.

According to Altaira Capital Partners' director of technical research, as stocks continue to make new all-time highs, there's actually a divide. The dynamic has actually "split" the market and may give investors an overly bullish impression, Acampora told CNBC recently.

"If you took a snapshot of [the major market indexes] right now, you'd say the trends are fairly strong towards the upside and I totally agree," he said on CNBC's "Futures Now" this week.

"However, if you look below the surface [at] another popular average like the Dow Jones Utility Index, you'll see that that's not doing as well," the analyst added.

In fact, while the Dow Utilities Index is still up more than 6 percent year to date, it has actually sunk almost 4 percent over the past month alone. During the same month, while the S&P 500 Index struggled to break out, it did maintain the same levels.

Acampora, dubbed by some market watchers as the "godfather of the charts," saw particular trouble with the S&P, however. He believes 6 of its 11 sectors are "rolling over" in a way that should give investors pause.

"So, I call it a split market and I caution everybody: Be invested, but be very, very selective," he said.

However, if investors were still looking to buy and get into the market, Acampora suggested that financials, health care and industrials would be the groups he would look at. All three of those groups are "holding up well" in the split market.