“Over the last year, the worst performing sectors have been Homebuilding (-60.69%) Thrifts & Mortgages (52.45%) Real Estate Management (-37.11%), Department Stores (-34.99%), Motorcycle Manufacturers i.e. Harley Davidson (51%) and Regional Banks (-31.2%) This is no secret and real estate related worries have dominated media coverage over the last year.
“However what is less well known is that of the S&P 500’s 147 sector indices, 85 are positive or unchanged for the year. Of these, 7 are up in excess of 50% year-to-date. These were Fertilizer & Agricultural Chemicals (+94.42%), Construction & Engineering (94.24%), Education Services (+84.89%), Coal and Con Fuel (+76.61%) Diversified Metals (71.97%), Internet Retail (64.89%) and Healthcare Services (51.21%. A number of these indices are consolidating their gains and need to sustain moves to new high ground to reaffirm their overall uptrends.
“In the coming year, we can probably expect banks to bottom out and they should perform better than they did this year. So I would be surprised to see them at the bottom of this list a year from now. However with the increase in interest in agriculture, the continued need for infrastructural improvements, not only in the USA, but globally, and the continued secular bull market in all commodities; it is difficult to imagine that the leaders for this year will not be in the upper quartile of performers again next year.”
Source: Eoin Treacy, Fullermoney
