"There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come" -Victor Hugo In the wake of the U.S. Administration's announced tariffs against Chinese goods, the domestic market took a decidedly negative turn on Friday's trading. The S & P 500 was virtually flat for the week; however, the higher beta bot names experienced a rather significant downturn. The Bot Index fell 1.10% as, once again, Asian stocks led the slide and energy companies worried about OPEC's expected output increase. The gainers in the Bot Index noted the continued strength in 3-D Systems and IRobot, both of which were among the prior week's best gainers. IRobot's gain follows an almost double-digit improvement for the June 8th week.

There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Robotic companies continued their two-week pattern of underperformance this week relative to the broader markets. Fully twelve members of the 30 stock Bot Index fell over 3% during the week and drove the Index to a virtual flat performance versus the S & P 500's .35% Four stocks in the health-care sector were among the greatest losers due to a Motley Fool article that focused on competition in the sector. Despite a two for one stock split on December 4th, shares of Cognex traded down over seven percent.