August 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Dr. Joe Duarte (http://www.joe-duarte.com) recently noted: The Semiconductors HOLDRS Trust (NYSE: SMH) made a nice move on 8-3, as the Semiconductors Industry Association (SIA) reported a nice jump in chip sales.

Duarte added: The SIA reported a 17% increase in chip sales for the month of June, the fourth month of rising activity in the sector. This is a positive, despite the fact that year over year sales are still down by 20%. The SIA believes that this a move toward a more normal seasonal cycle for the chip sector, not just a bounce.

If they are correct, this is another sign that the recession is closer to an end, and that what remains to be seen is where things will adjust. And while few expect chip demand to reach the levels prior to the top, any kind of stabilization, and even steady growth would be welcome.

For investors in the chip sector, SMH is a nice way to get exposure, as it houses all the familiar names, including Intel, Applied Materials, KLA-Tencor, and others.

Duarte’s conclusion: SMH has been consolidating its recent gains near 25 for the last couple of weeks. A good move above 25 could take the ETF toward 27.50.

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Duarte partners with the Investors Resource Center at Investrend Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com).

Duarte’s IntelligentForecasts.com (http://www.intelligentforecasts.com) provides free news coverage and analysis, and his daily articles and news summaries offer recommendations and analysis for ETFs, and individual stocks in the technology, health and biotechnology, and energy sectors. Duarte has combined expertise in health care, energy, and the effects of politics and global intelligence on the financial markets offer a unique blend of insight and information to thousands of active investors and political and intelligence aficionados around the world on a daily basis.

He is the author of: Futures And Options For Dummies, Successful Energy Sector Investing, Successful Biotech Investing and co-author of After-Hours Trading Made Easy. In early 2001, in Successful Energy Sector Investing, he correctly predicted that Venezuela’s political problems could lead to an energy crisis in the United States. He has also appeared as a weekly guest on Market Mavens Radio and has logged appearances on KNX radio in Los Angeles, Financial Sense.com radio, and Wall Street Radio.

One of CNBC’s original Market Mavens, Dr. Duarte has been writing about the financial markets since 1990. His articles and commentary have been featured on CBS Marketwatch, Barron’s, Smart Money, Medical Economics, and in Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities magazines. In 2003, Doctor Duarte received second place, in the professional section, of the Medical Economics Investment Challenge with a 12-month return of 42%.

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