Ecolab is a provider of water, hygiene, and energy technology and services. The company delivers comprehensive solutions to promote safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use, and improve operational efficiency for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality, and industrial sectors. Ecolab has over 48,000 employees worldwide. The shares are a component of the S&P 500.

Another week and another (fourth-consecutive) set of positive insider-sentiment data from Vickers Stock Research. Let's jump right in, looking at exchange data. Vickers' NYSE One-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is currently 1.44 on a scale where any result below 2.00 is bullish. This ratio has been bullish for four weeks in a row. The ongoing strength in the one-week data has now also pushed Vickers' longer-term (eight-week) sentiment reading into bullish territory. Indeed, the NYSE Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is now bullish at 1.83. Turning to the Nasdaq, the One-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is essentially flat with last week at 2.67, which is just into the neutral zone (which runs from 2.00 to 6.00). Still, the short-term Nasdaq reading has been generally improving for multiple weeks and has led the Nasdaq Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio (currently 2.98) on a trend of improvement that is now 10 weeks in duration. Putting this all together, Vickers Total (all exchanges) One-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is now 2.05 (oh-so-close to bullish) and the Total Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is now 2.34 (neutral but having improved for 10 consecutive weeks). When this run of bullish data began back on April 7, the S&P 500 was at 5062. On Friday, it closed at 5686, almost 12% higher. On a sector basis, insider buying narrowly exceeded selling in Consumer Discretionary last week, with shares valued at $6.44 million bought versus $6.42 million sold. Buying also outpaced selling in Energy -- although volume was light, with less than $1 million shares bought during the period. Selling was the greatest in the Financial sector over the last week, with shares valued at $73 million sold versus less than $4 million bought. Selling was also notable in Healthcare, Industrials, Real Estate, and Information Technology. This week, analysts at Vickers highlighted insider transactions of interest at Molina Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: MOH) and BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK).

Ecolab produces and markets cleaning and sanitation products for the industrial manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, and life sciences markets. The firm is the global market share leader in this category with a wide array of products and services, including dish and laundry washing systems, pest control, and infection control products. Additionally, Ecolab sells customized water management solutions across its end markets. The company has a strong hold on the US market and is growing its presence abroad.

In a reversal of the dominant trend in most of 2023 and 2024, the traditional growth sectors (Communication Services, Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary) are down sharply year to date in 2025. After holding gains through January and February, Communication Services is down 12% as of mid-April. Information Technology declined in every month of the first quarter and is down 18% year to date. Selling has broadened from the AI category to nearly every technology niche, including software, computing, and semiconductors. Consumer Discretionary is down about 20% year to date as consumer confidence has tanked and auto sales -- including Teslas -- stall. Consumer Staples is leading the market, with a 6% gain year to date, while the Utility group is up 3%. Those two traditionally defensive sectors are the only ones in positive territory for 2025 at this point. Other sectors outperforming the S&P 500, which is down 10% for the year, include Energy, Financials, Healthcare, Industrials, Materials, and Real Estate. The takeaway from the year-to-date 2025 sector performance table is impressive breadth, which we believe bodes well in a challenging market for traditional leaders. Sector rotation also carries risks, however, particularly if it gets too intense. If 2025 features deeply negative performances from the three growth sectors -- which collectively represent about 50% of total market weight -- the overall stock market may struggle to generate a positive return for the year.