Sector and Stock Performance During the Pullback

The S&P 500 is down 3.89% since rallying 37% from March 9th through May 8th. Below is a scatter chart showing sector performance during the 3/9-5/8 rally and during the current pullback. As shown, as performance during the rally gets better, it gets worse during the current pullback. So the sectors that rallied the most have generally pulled back the most. Financials are down the most of any sector since May 8th at -11.2%, but they were also up a whopping 110% during the rally. The Industrial sector has been the second worst since May 8th with a decline of 7.5%. Technology and Consumer Staples are the only two sectors that are up since May 8th, so they've shown the best relative strength recently.

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While the overall market is down since May 8th, there are quite a few stocks that continue to rally, and below we highlight the 25 best performers in the S&P 500 since then. As shown, Tenet Healthcare (THC) is up the most at 36.55%, followed by CME, AMD, ADI, and HRS. Other notables on the list of winners include BRCM, SNDK, ERTS, TXN, KO, and ANF.

Regions Financials (RF) has seen the biggest decline since May 8th at -39.36%. RF is followed by MI, STI, ZION, KEY, and COF -- all Financials.

Comments

[Macro_Man:]

This is very interesting. If one looks at DJUSFN (Index) or XLF, it shows a descending triangle. This pattern may be completed within a few days or weeks if financials break through support. In which case a drop of 15% could be expected for the financials.

May 28 01:54 PM

[RiskReturnO...:]

This is interesting, directional data, but I believe each sector peaked at different times (as there has been quite a bit of sector rotation), so picking May 8th as the reversal data for all sectors is somewhat misleading. I suppose another methodology is to look at each sectors' own "peak date" and re-run the % gain / % drop chart.

For example, Health Care and Energy were catch up sectors that peaked later than March 8th, so the gain should be more, and drop should be more. Not sure where the relative position on the grid though.

May 28 02:09 PM

[Valor investor:]

Im no professional but everyone gets in to these crazy debates about what stocks are doing short term. Ya financials are down, but I think if we look at the big picture, financial companies that have survived the financial and economical melt down will end up thriving in the long run. The time is now to start investing in the financial market! I can see cha-ching money in our pockets if I invest in these financial companies. I just invested in Regions financial corp best time to invest is when there down!

May 28 09:21 PM