Healthcare Is Leading the Market This YearBelieve it or not, healthcare is the top performing sector so far in 2025. (It’s up about 9 percent, according to TradeStation data. That puts it fractionally ahead of financials.)
Today’s chart of the SPDR Select Sector Health Care ETF highlights some potentially interesting patterns.
First is the rally from January 3 (first Friday of the year) through February 5. XLV pulled back to retrace almost exactly half the advance, which may suggest direction is pointing upward.
It has also been fighting potential resistance at its 200-day simple moving average (SMA), but closed above it on Friday.
Speaking of Friday, the fund initially fell below Thursday’s low. It then bounced and cleared the previous session’s high. Is that bullish outside candle a sign of animal spirits?
XLV also had its highest weekly close since early November.
Finally, the 8-day exponential moving average (EMA) has stayed above the 21-day EMA. Such price action may be consistent with a short-term uptrend.
Standardized Performances for the ETF mentioned above:
SPDR Select Sector Health Care ETF (XLV)
1-year: +4.62%
5-years: +48.15%
10-year: +114.50%
(As of January 31, 2025)
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