The Pharmaceuitcal Biotech Industry has been the top performer with gains of 14.5% so far year-to-date. Five of the 24 industries have reached double-digit percentage returns this years with the average industry gaining about 5%. Only five industries are stuck in negative territory and only one, Diversified Financials, are down over 1% year-to-date. The top performing individual stock in US Dollar returns comes to us from Japn. Seiko Epson Corporation, an electronics company, has gained over 86% year-to-date. The worst performing indivudual stock is out of the UK. ASOS, a British online retailer, is down over 64% year-to-date. The top 10 best and worst performing stocks are listed below (Figure 2 and Figure 3).
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Moving on to the Emerging Markets, the Media industry is by far and away the best performing industry so far this year. It is nearly 44% higher than it was at the beginning of the year. Two other industries, Consumer Services and Household & Personal Products, have both gained over 30% in US Dollar terms. Only one industry in the Emerging Markets, Food & Staples Retailing, is not in positive territory year-to-date. The average industry in the Emerging Markets has gained nearly 13% year-to-date.
Figure 4
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Figure 6
