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Sector Winners and Losers week ending 2/26It's a good week to take a close look at the sectors and see how the market moved around during pullbacks in the major indexes. Energy (XLE) and Financials (XLF) were joined at the hip, finding themselves at the top of the sector list on Monday and Wednesday and at the bottom of the list on Friday. However the days spent at the top were enough to allow them to end the week in 1st and 2nd place. However, Energy was the only sector that could keep gains to end the week in the positive. Consumer Discretionary (XLY) and Technology (XLK) took a beating throughout the week as investors moved away from these sectors fearing the impact of inflation and higher interest rates. Utilities (XLU) is usually in play when investors are nervous. It showed up at the top of the list on Tuesday and Thursday, but ended the week at the bottom of the list. The cyclical stocks Industrials (XLI) and Materials (XLB) outperformed the SPX for a second week. Along with Energy and Financials, these cyclical sectors were top performers for the whole month of February.
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by drewby4321
6
Sector Winners and Losers week ending 2/19It was a week for the cyclical stocks. Energy (XLE), Financials (XLF), Materials (XLB), and Industrials (XLI) were the only sectors to close the week with gains. That was not the case for the entire week. Communication Services (XLC) started the week with gains but faded in the last two days. Utilities (XLU) had one day as the leading sector on Thursday, but moved back to the bottom of the list on Friday. Health Care (XLV) was the worst performing sector of the week.
SP:SPX
by drewby4321
Sector Winners and Losers week ending 2/5Energy (XLE) was back on top for the first week of February. The sector benefited from higher than expected demand in oil that also raise crude oil prices throughout the week. Technology (XLK) started the week in the lead, having a strong Monday. The Consumer Discretionary (XLY) took the lead on Tuesday. Financials (XLF) briefly moved to the top spot on Thursday, but was soon passed by Energy again. Health Care (XLV) was at the bottom of the list for the week. Materials (XLB) was the worst performing sector on Thursday, but led the sectors on Friday.
SP:SPX
by drewby4321
Sector Winners and Losers week ending 1/22Communications (XLC) led the week with a big +5.44% gain, but only after a big pullback the week prior. The sector was led by Alphabet (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB) with +9.55% and +9.21% gains respectively. Those two companies make up 44% of the ETF. Netflix (NFLX) also had a huge gain of +13.49% but only represents 5% of the ETF. Technology (XLK) finished the week in second place, also with the mega-caps, Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) contributing the most to the gains. Financials (XLF) continued to underperform as more financial institutions reported earnings and disappointed investors. Energy (XLE) was the worst performing sector of the week. There is probably some influence from the new administration policies. However, the more immediate impact was from surprise surplus in oil supplies, signaling much lower demand for oil than anticipated. The only significant pivots during the week were on Wednesday, January 20th which was inauguration day. That day saw a spike in Communications, Technology and Real Estate (XLRE). The pivot for Communications and Technology were likely reinvestment into mega-caps that didn't seem to be in the crosshairs of any new policies, alleviating some fears of policies that would hurt big tech. The Real Estate pivot was driven by the additional assistance for renters proposed in the new stimulus package. The stimulus approved in December only covered the estimated amount of back rent owed, but the new stimulus package would extend rental assistance into the future.
SP:SPX
by drewby4321
Sector Winners and Losers week ending 1/15The sectors had a wild race this week with the backdrop of a up and down market with several rotations between small caps, mid caps and large caps. Energy (XLE) would ultimately be the winner, supported by production cuts in Saudi Arabia, higher than expected demand for oil, and some positive news from OPEC. There was a significant pullback on Friday after SEC announced an investigation into Exxon Mobile (XOM) which makes up 23% of the XLE ETF. Financials (XLF) led must of the week as investors expect higher treasury yields boost performance for big banks. That turned upside down on Friday when Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) disappointed on revenue despite beating expectations on earnings. It was Real Estate (XLRE) and Utilities (XLU) that started to climb on Tuesday and were top performers on Friday. Those two sectors are defensive plays for equity investors. Both are expected to suffer less from market pullbacks. Materials (XLB) and Industrials (XLI) were also doing well earlier in the week, but pulled back on Friday. It could be that the nearly $2 trillion of stimulus promised by President-elect Biden is seen as a delay to the expected investments in infrastructure. Just a theory. Technology (XLK) and Communications (XLC) were at the bottom. The big tech mega-caps went up and down in price all week as money moved in and out of the segment. Communications, which includes companies like Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR) suffered the most as investors fear negative impact of recent actions related to Donald Trump.
SP:SPX
by drewby4321
5
Sector Winners and Losers week ending 1/8Energy (XLE) finds itself back at the top of the sector list for the first week of 2021. It's not something you might expect as the blue wave hit US politics, which doesn't bode well for traditional energy stocks. However, crude oil is over $50 a barrel for the first time since April after Saudi Arabia surprisingly cut output. The blue wave did have some expected impact this week. After the Georgia run-off results showed Democrats would take control of the senate, US Treasury Bond yields took off as investors expect more stimulus that would further impact the US Dollar. That caused Financials (XLF), especially big banks, to have big gains on Wednesday and Thursday. Materials (XLB) benefited from the blue wave news, as we can expect big investments in US infrastructure with the new administration. Industrials (XLI) also had a boost on Wednesday, with some benefit from infrastructure spend, but also several segments like airlines likely to benefit from further stimulus. However, Industrials did not continue the rise and ended the week behind the S&P 500. Consumer Discretionary (XLY) got a boost on Friday, perhaps from higher than expected Consumer credit numbers on top of the promise of new stimulus. Quite a few people had a good Christmas it seems. At the bottom of the list is Real Estate (XLRE) which is likely to suffer in the bottom line from the higher interest rates. Technology (XLK) had the opposite reaction to the blue wave on Wednesday but regained from losses on Thursday and Friday to end the week just behind Industrials. Also notable is Utilities (XLU) which lost for the week, but had gains on Friday as a defensive move heading into a likely emotion filled weekend for the United States.
SP:SPX
by drewby4321
Sector Winners and Losers for 1/5 and 1/6I normally publish this chart on weekly basis as part of my Week in Review work but I thought it was interesting to look at it today, in the context of the Georgia run-off election results. There is also the turmoil in DC, but that did not seem to impact the sector leaders list (the afternoon dip impacted all equally). Energy (XLE) is leading over the two days, although was in third place for Wednesday. This position is not related to politics, but rather that crude oil prices moved past $50 for the first time since February. A much smaller part of Energy is the solar stocks which will benefit greatly from a Democratic controlled congress and presidency. However, the solar stocks make up a small part of XLE and are not the reason for the sector performance. Materials (XLB) is the next sector on the list. Materials sector will benefit greatly from expected spend on infrastructure in the US. Financials (XLF) was the winner on Wednesday, as yields on treasury bonds rose, bringing higher interest rates that will benefit banks. Industrials (XLI) got a boost from both the outlook for infrastructure spend, but also the promise of more stimulus that would easily pass through congress and signed by the president. The sectors that did not fair well with the news included Communication Services (XLC) and Technology (XLK) which both include "big tech" names that are likely to take a hit from higher bond yields. Similarly Real Estate (XLRE) will incur higher costs due to the higher interest rates.
SP:SPX
by drewby4321
2
Sector Winners and Losers week ending 12/25The short trading week was not without its excitement. Financials (XLF) was the big winner of the week. The fed stress test last week resulted in banks being allowed to resume share buy bank programs, giving some tailwinds to the sector. Technology (XLK) took the lead on Tuesday, but fell back into second place at the open on Wednesday. All other sectors underperformed the S&P 500 for the week. Energy (XLE) was the leading sector for Wednesday's session but was the worst performing sector on the other days, coming in last for the week.
SP:SPX
by drewby4321
Blackrock ShortI have highlighted the XLF representing the broader financial sector in purple and the S&P 500 index in gray. As you can see it has outperformed the financial sector by a longshot and outperformed the S&P 500 index. Since Blackrock’s bread and butter is asset management with nearly 8 trillion AUM, the overall concern with overvaluations in the markets combined with BLK’s significant outperformance to its peers and to the broader market in which it invests; I’d say it is time for a pullback. I would expect it to correct to its previous highs as seen with the green line. I do not expect it to head down towards the XLF, but it is possible it could correct all the way to where the S&P is. It is trading at about 21x earnings.
NYSE:BLKShort
by EBITDAtiger
2