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Like most people around the world who do not have access to critical, vital information to be able to properly assess and understand what is going on, you assume that the Dow 30 or S&P500 or NASDAQ 100 or a combination thereof is a means by which to determine the growth or decline of the US Stock Market.This assumption that US indexes define the US market or the global market is a common mistake, because you do not have the information needed to make a different determination.The world economy is in a recession and from time to time, certain countries economies teeter on a depression. Federal Reserve Bank Quantitative Easing that is being done in the US, Europe, China and elsewhere is seriously jeopardizing the global economy in ways that most people have no idea is developing.The Shanghai Stock Market is well below its all time high, well below its 2015 high and is not recovering rapidly. Just Google Shanghai Stock Market Index and then use Maximum setting to see the long term trend.The Hong Kong, aka Hang Seng Index is also well below its high of 2020. You can see a chart the same way by using Google Stock Chart searches.London is not recovering either—use the same search.Germany DAX looks similar to the Dow 30 of the US but is well below its high of 2020.Japan’s Nikkei is actually doing better than most nations stock markets but is in a Trading Range pattern NOT a strong uptrend.Those are major “Hubs” for the global stock market of the global economy. Clearly if you study these charts.The Dow 30 Index is owned by the Wall Street Journal. It is no longer an “average” which was its original formulation written by the great Charles Dow in the late 1800’s. He was the first technical analyst and is Dow Jones Industrial Average was a stunning new way for banks, wealthy business owners, and average emerging middle class Americans to actually SEE graphically whether the market was moving up or down. Daily prices up and down confuse the mind. Clarity is only possible with a stock chart.The S&P500 is owned by Standard and Poors. The NASDAQ 100 index is owned by NASDAQ the US Exchange.All formulas and methods of averaging are PROPRIETARY and not provided to the general public so that the investing community could actually see and determine what the index formula and types of averaging, AND weighting of certain specific index components (the stocks that are listed in each index). Weighting has become a major manipulation of the indexes in recent years. But the formulas are proprietary.By weighting certain components heavier than others, the index values are tilted toward upward growth. Also, if at any time, any component is weighing the index value down OR in the case of the AAPL 4/1 split that would have adjusted ALL 3 indexes down but especially the Dow 30, the Wall Street Journal staff who manages the Dow 30 index made changes to the Dow 30 components. 3 were removed and 3 new ones were added, providing a continuing illusion that the stock market always goes up, even during a really bad recession.The additional resources of buying power to move index components upward was the FRB Federal Reserve Bank Quantitative Easing which provides virtual credits to the Money Central Banks to spend as the banks decide. There are no restrictions with QE. The banks have had trillions of virtual credits to spend like real currency and have propped up certain high profile stocks and important components of the indexes to firstly in February and March 2020, to stabilize the collapsing stock market. Then the banks simply went on a buying spree as their regulations were rolled back.Focusing on key components that are known to be heavily weighted by the index maintenance teams from the 3 indexes provides a powerful illusion that all is great and wonderful in the stock market.Yes, it has kept about 60 million 401k or IRA or other pension funds up also which helps those who are retired or those near retirement or those with pension funds. However there are 338 million people in the US. Not everyone has a pension fund.There are currently 5179 stocks listed on the US exchanges. This number changes constantly. The vast majority of these stocks are in bear business cycles due to the recession. What you see in the indexes is a few companies that had a product and or service that was in high demand during this pandemic or a rising demand for their product or service early on during the lock-down.A more ideal way to understand the stock market is to study the 11 Sectors or 142 Industries of the US. Yes, there are 142 industries, NOT 30.The Energy Sector chart is in a massive decline heading for the RISK of an even more significant industry contraction with numerous companies going out of business. This is only OIL industries and companies. This Sector represents 313 companies.All the chatter about how great and wonderful Real Estate is right now? Well the Real Estate Sector contradicts that rhetoric. The tough reality is: Charts don’t lie. It is a simple graphical view of reality. Yes, some Millennial families are buying some new houses. But this chart shows it is not a huge growth area of the economy. If Real Estate was booming, then this chart will be well above the previous high by now. This sector has 313 companies.All the chatter about Utilities. When the chart doesn’t show strong growth but rather volatile speculative and insipid activity. This sector has 112 companies.What about the Financial Services Industry? Surely with a “strong stock market” this sector should be blasting to new highs, right? Ahem. Study the chart. Charts do not lie. They reflect reality with excellent clarity. This sector has 874 companies in it.The Industrial Sector is doing better but is far from strong growth and is shifting toward a sideways pattern. This industry has 753 companies. Many are doing poorly but there are a small number that are out performing overall.The Communications Sector has just 79 stocks. It is a very small sector with only a few industries. But it is part of the US economy.The Technology Sector, as I would expect, is doing stellar with growth, partly due to the TSLA, AAPL, AMZN, MSFT, GOOG mania buying speculation by the retail groups encouraged by their mobile app brokers, and gurus to buy stocks at extreme risk new highs in the hope that these aging companies may continue to move up. Oops, most are off their all-time highs already. Technology WILL lead the economy out of this recession. But at a huge cost to American workers and the middle class. But this is a bright area of the stock market in terms of growth IF you bought many years ago. This is a Sector poised for a correction, either trading range or down. This sector has 821 companies. Many are new IPOs and some are older companies that are underperforming. The extremely popular tech stocks are the primary drivers of this strong sector growth, at least for now.On to: Consumer Defensive Sector. This sector has a cute name but what it means is the financial services companies who created these sectors assume that the products in these companies represent “necessity” items which include all beverages (wine, beer), candy, confections, discount stores, education and training, farm products and food distribution, grocery stores, household and personal products, packaged foods, pharmaceuticals retailers, and tobacco, regulated water. there are 235 companies in this sector.Usually this sector outperforms during stock market crashes, economic recessions, and national crisis. Well not this time. The big banks and the retail investors were not interested in these stocks, even though many companies were doing well providing specific necessities and running out of inventories as people hoarded supplies.This is not stellar growth. It is a trading range pattern with extreme volatility in the cycle for this sector which warns of many companies in dire stock price distress.Basic Materials Sector has had strong growth as a ton of money shifted out of stocks into bonds and muni-bonds. Everywhere little towns and cities were able to put many workers on fixing roads, highways, bridges, and infrastructure that has been ignored and crumbling since 2008. This helped this industry and it helped the cities and towns, counties and states to fix what has needed to be fixed for over a decade.This was a bright spot in the economy during the pandemic. However, this sector has a super strong cycle and it is midway through that cycle. This sector as 298 companies. Some are doing extremely well, but many are struggling. This sector has many distressed stocks.The Consumer Cyclical Sector is a huge sector with an extremely mixed group of industries and should be divided into another sector as the industries are not harmonious in the business cycle represented. there are 621 companies. Advertising Agencies which did well during lock down, Apparel Manufacturers which have done poorly and many are at risk of hostile takeover or bankruptcy. Apparel Stores which is a mix of strong and weak firms and the entire industry is due for a massive contraction as mergers begin. Auto and Truck Dealerships which mostly did poorly during the pandemic despite low interest rates. Auto Parts which always improve during a recession, Broadcasting TV which got a boost from people stuck at home. Department Stores which mostly are going out of business, Footwear and accessories which had mixed results. Gambling which was a huge speculative stock area, home furnishings and home improvement benefited greatly from the lock down as homeowners fixed up their homes. Leisure tanked steeply and is not recovering, lodging tanked and is at risk of major contraction for the industry. Luxury goods also declined mostly. Media Diversified had strong growth due to the stay at home orders. Packaged containers got a boost from stay at home families. Personal Services declined mostly. Publishing had a minor pop up. Recreational Vehicles had a minor growht, Residential Construction was up but not the entire industry. Resorts, Casinos, and Restaurant industries were a mixed group. Some had strong growth. Specialty retail had growth. Textile Manufacturing declined.The Sector Chart rose and is at an extreme cyclical pattern also. But this was a sector that had some industries and stocks outperforming due to the lock-down and stay at home situations. This will NOT continue as the economy slowly moves forward during the recession unless there is another lock-down. There are 621 companies and many of the stocks that moved the indexes value upward are in this sector also.The Healthcare Sector. Since this is the first major pandemic that has hit the US this hard in over 100 years, it would make sense that the Healthcare sector would be the strongest sector of all. However, it is not. The Consumer Cyclical Sector, despite is huge mix of industries and inconsistencies between industries during the pandemic, is the strongest of all the Sectors.Healthcare is above its all time highs of recent years but it is not the growth one would expect given the demand for services and products, medical devices, screening devices, medical supplies, etc.Also, this is the LARGEST Sector in the 11 US Sectors. 1026 companies. If individual industries and companies stock charts are studied, there are a huge number of biotech companies at this time. Many are at risk of being delisted and were new IPOS which the big Money Central Banks promoted as they were heavily underwriting this new technology NOT because these small startups deserved listing but because the banks are in desperate need of revenues and they knew the average retail investors would buy speculatively if these biotechs were promoted as the next big stock winners. It worked but many biotechs will not survive. This is just like the dotcom era when the big banks underwrote dotcom companies that were shell corporations. Most dotcoms were delisted and went bankrupt. Be careful investing in new IPO biotech. Most are not worthy of your investment money.Summary: 2 sectors: Technology and Consumer Cyclical have had stellar growth in targeted industries and a small group of stocks. 3 sectors: Consumer Defensive, Healthcare, Basic Materials have had moderate growth, nothing to shout about and many stocks in their industries are doing poorly. The remaining 6 sectors have been lagging and underperforming all year long.That means the stock market depending mostly on Technology and Consumer Cyclical stocks to drive the indexes upward. If you study the individual index components charts, these facts are confirmed. This is NOT predicting or projecting or assumptive. These are hard, cold, facts.The stock market is struggling it is not in a huge growth overall. The indexes hide this reality and at some point it is going to bite the hand that has fed this illusion, the big money central banks and the Federal Reserve Bank. It will also bite those who gambled in stocks.Thank you for reading this very long answer. I hope it helps clarify areas that are not available to the average investor/trader of stocks.Martha Stokes, CMT is the Co-Founder and CEO of TechniTraderStock Market Training by TechniTrader.Stock Market Learning Center for all Investors and Traders.

History is a good way to determine where the next growth of industries and where in the New Economy that will evolve from this pandemic.The Spanish Flu of 1918 -1920 devastated the global economy at that time along with the World War One. It infected about 30% of the population of the world at that time which was about 1.5 billion people.That pandemic ended and a whole new Economy evolved out of the Industrial Revolution of that era. Manufacturing of home electric appliances and kitchen electric gadgets, emerged as more homes had electricity for the first time.Fast forward 100 years. The world has another devastating pandemic that has severely damaged the current economies. However, a plethora of new technologies are coming to market even faster than would have happened without the pandemic.As human workers become a huge liability for corporations, Robots, Robotics, Humaniod Robots, DLT, Blockchain, Sensors, Solar Energy, autonomous vehicles, Dark Data Mining, Augmented Reality Analysis for Diagnostics and Research, New types of machine learning and new technology in Artificial intelligence, and much more is being called: The 4th Industrial Revolution.Once the pandemic has run its course, the survivors are in for a roller coaster ride of new displacement technologies that will be amazing for investors and traders but damaging to wage earner employees.The markets are not likely to see a huge broad boom until the pandemic is truly tamed and contained. Right now as I write this Europe is locking down again and this will ripple across all financial markets to some degree.Martha Stokes, CMT is the Co-Founder and CEO of TechniTraderOnline Stock Trading Lessons

You know, I try to step back before saying anything when I read or hear something that makes me upset, but…If you really want to know, I would gladly come over and lock you somewhere so that you could find out for yourself what it would be like.Are you game? Five days. You could handle that, right? Excellent. We have a deal! Thing is? I’m going to lock you in for five days and maybe, just maybe, if you manage for five, I will leave you there for six and see what happens next.(Moved from a comment to answers.)