A Wild Ride So Far

lf you went to sleep at the end of 2008 and just woke up today, you'd see the S&P 500 up 1.78% for the year and probably assume it's been a pretty boring six months in the market. Oh how you'd be wrong, however. As shown below, the market has taken investors for a wild ride so far this year. On March 9th, the index closed the day down 25% for the year. From March 9th through today's close, the index has rallied 36%. Down 25% and then up 36% turns into up 1.78% at the midway point.

click to enlarge

And while the S&P 500 is up as a whole, only three of the index's ten major sectors are positive in 2009. Technology has been the big winner so far with a gain of 24.08%. Materials is up the second most at 12.28%, and Consumer Discretionary ranks third at 7.52%. And even though sectors like Industrials and Financials have been going up for months now, both are still down for the year. The Industrials sector is down the most at -7.68%, while Financials are down 4.76%.

While the year started off horribly for the market, it is heading into July in a nice uptrend even though it has been floundering for a few weeks now. While some investors are getting frustrated with the market's inability to break to new highs, they easily forget how bad things were just a few months ago. Up 1.78% in '09 with everything that has happened -- we'll take it!

Comments

[Ted Hurlbut:]

I'm fairly confident the worst is over. That's reflected in the fact that after bouncing back, equities seemed to have settled into a trading range. There's still an enormous amount of overhang, however, and the recovery, which seems to be close at hand, will clearly be slow and drawn out. Look for retail sales to begin to improve at the end of Q3 and on into Q4.

Jul 01 01:21 PM

[knight:]

It cant be a suckers rally if the suckers aren't in it. I am hoping more people become confident that the worst is over so we can finally have the much needed correction.

Jul 02 02:02 AM