The Standard & Poor's index of major U.S. stocks has doubled in the past five years. marketwatch
The Standard & Poor's 500, one of the most followed stock indices in the world, passed the 2,000 level for the first time ever on Monday. The index, which tracks America's 500 largest firms by market capitalization, hit an intraday high of 2,000.24 before slipping back below the psychologically important level.
The S&P 500 stock index has doubled in the last five years Google Finance
The index has doubled in the past five years since bottoming out during the financial crisis, when it fell below 700.
Here, based on data compiled by economist Ed Yardeni, is a breakdown of the index's performance for the year to date.
The S&P 500’s year-to-date performance improved to a
7.6% gain last week from 5.8% a week earlier.
Nine of the 10 sectors moved higher w/w, the same as a
week earlier as four beat the S&P 500’s1.7% gain.
Last week’s top performers all rose 2.3%: Industrials, Financials, and Tech.
The worst performers were Telecom (-0.4%) and Energy (0.6).
Just two of the 10 sectors were higher in July, with the S&P 500 falling 1.5%, but nine are higher so far in
August with the S&P 500 up 3.0%.
The best-performing sectors so far in August: Industrials (4.3),
Consumer Discretionary (4.1), and Consumer Staples (3.9).
The worst performers in August: Telecom (-2.8) and Energy (0.2).
The ytd performance is positive now for all 10 sectors, up from just two in early April.
Tech is the new 2014 ytd leader with a gain of 13.3%, followed closely by Health Care (13.2) and
Utilities (11.1).
Also beating the S&P 500’s ytd gain of 7.6% are Materials (8.3) and Energy (8.0).
Sectors that are trailing the S&P 500 ytd: Telecom (1.4), Consumer Discretionary (2.5), Industrials
(2.9), Consumer Staples (4.1), and Financials (5.5).
