Over the past 252 trading days, only 46% of stocks in the MSCI World Index are actually outperforming the index itself. As the chart below highlights, this is well below the average level for this bull run since 2009.
Looking at this statistic from a sector level reveals some interesting observations. First, even with the Consumer Discretionary weakness so far this year, 53% of Consumer Discretionary stocks are still outperforming the MSCI World Index. Amazingly, this sector has had over half of their stocks outperforming for the last five years.
On the other hand, Consumer Staple stocks have been leaking performance for over a year now. Over 2/3 of the Consumer Staples stocks are underperforming the index.
The Energy sector has seen a nice surge recently in the number of stocks outperforming the index. Over the past five weeks nearly 20% more stocks have started to outperform the MSCI World Index.
Finally, Health Care, Industrials, IT and Telecom stocks are seeing over 1/2 of their stocks outperforming while Financials, Materials and Utilities are the sectors with the most underperformers.