Health Care Stocks Pick Up in 2015 Where They Left Off in 2014

Across two of the three regions in the MSCI World Index, the health care sector has been the best performer over the last year.  In North America, measured in USD, health care stocks are up 29.13% over the last year, while they were up 5.96% in Europe and 2.53% in Asia/Pacific.

MSCI North America


MSCI Europe


MSCI Asia/Pacific


The run of relative outperformance continued in a big way today, with health care stocks falling only about a third as much as the overall index.  All ten sectors of the MSCI World index fell today, but health care was only down 65bps compared to the 2.05% drop in the MSCI World Index.



North American and European health care stocks were down 62bps and 73bps respectively, while Asia/Pacific health care stocks were up 67bps.







So far, 2015 is simply an extension of the trends that prevailed in 2014.  Growth counter-cyclicals, such as health care and consumer staples, continue to outperform the broader stock market.