Stock Returns by Sector and Market Cap

The table below (click to enlarge) breaks down the 3 S&P broad indices by their 10 economic sectors:

Despite the much higher returns among small stocks, the YTD differential is still negative.

• Energy has been very strong over the past month with the exception of large-caps.
• Materials have been strong across the board.
• Industrials had a strong month, but they still lag on the year.
• Consumer Discretionary has rebounded across all market caps, but it is actually the very strongest sector of all for the S&P 600.
• Consumer Staples remain under pressure
• Healthcare remains extremely disappointing (see my in-depth explanation)
• Financials saw very different behavior across market caps, with the big boys rocking and the smaller ones getting slammed. This is opposite what was happening from last summer through March.
• Tech was moderately better than the market as a whole last month and remains one of the healthiest sectors.
• Telecom Services is performing poorly.
• Utilities are most likely reflecting the rise in rates and the exodus of "safe-haven" money.

Disclosure: None

Comments

[Alan Brochstein]

I published this very late last night and should have included an explanation of the use of the colors in the chart. For April, Green indicates a positive deviation from the overall index of >3% and Red implies a negative deviation of >3%. For the YTD, Green is for >5% and Red is for <5% vs. the overall index. White, then, represents all sectors within 3% for April or 5% for YTD.

2009 May 01 06:54 AM

[Minlita]

The S&P gained just over 8% for April and the best performing sectores for the month were Financials (+ 17.5%) and Retai (+ 16%) Health Care were (slightly) negative and Consumer Staples and Utilities also under-performance.
Last month there us a large volume of buyers and small amount of puts trading, meaning that fund managers are now buying seeking for returns and loosening up their hedges.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increases in April meaning more people are buying therefore sell and earning are up.
tp://conference-board.org/e...

2009 May 03 06:33 PM

[Minlita]

- The S&P gained just over 8% for April and the best performing
sectores for the month were Financials (+ 17.5%) and Retai (+ 16%), Health Care were (slightly) negative and Consumer Staples and Utilities also under-performance.
- Last month there us a large volume of buyers and small amount of
puts trading, meaning that fund managers are now buying seeking for returns and loosening up their hedges.
- The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increases in April meaning more people are buying therefore sell and earning are up.
www.conference-board.o...

2009 May 03 06:35 PM