Analyzing the past may give us a leg up on handicapping the future. Then again, it may not. The financial gods are funny that way: they keep us guessing and make no apologies. Nonetheless, we’re sufficiently naive and properly motivated to look at the historical record anyway–and take our lumps when and if they come (which invariably they always do).
With that caveat out of the way, today’s effort focuses on the 10 major sectors that comprise the S&P 500. To the extent that one can assess major trends in the recnet trading of domestic equities, clues may be ripe for the picking. We can begin by observing that energy is this year’s big winner…again. Through Friday’s close, the energy sector’s up by a cool 24.8%, as the chart below shows. That’s more two-a-half-times higher than the S&P 500’s 9.5% year-to-date gain, which itself is impressive as broad-market averages go over such short periods.
