As we come to the end of the first half of the year, below we take a look at S&P 500 sector performance so far in 2010. At this point, no sector is up year to date. The S&P 500 as a whole is down 6.17%, while the Materials [capital goods] sector is down the most at -12.22% and the Consumer Discretionary sector is down the least at -0.31%. Four sectors are outperforming the overall index (Consumer Staples, Financials, Industrials, and Consumer Discretionary), while six sectors are underperforming (Materials, Energy, Telecom, Technology, Health Care, Utilities). When markets are down, the cyclical sectors are usually down the most, while defensive sectors are down the least. That hasn't really been the case so far at this point in the year.
In related news, the latest Twilight saga "generated record sales of more than $30 million from midnight showings in U.S. and Canadian theaters."
BobE,
ReplyDeleteAre financials closer to capital or consumer goods? And what about industrials? Shouldn't HC and Utilities, along with telecom, be closer to consumer than capital goods?
Good questions. I think materials are at the capital goods extreme and consumer discretionary at the other. Interventions have muddled much of the middle, so I . Financial earnings are a GAAP and Fed-induced hallucination. I would have expected industrials to be much farther to the left, though. Then again, the largest industrial by market cap, GE, could be classified as a financial.
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