Big Cyclical Bounce Last Week Led By Energy

We had a big bounce in cyclical sectors last week in the MSCI World Index. On an equal-weighted basis, the energy sector outperformed the MSCI World Index by over 6% last week. The second best performing sector was financials (+3.12%) and the the third best performing sector was materials (+2.78%). The bottom of the leader board is made up of counter-cyclical sectors. Utilities was the only sector that finished the week in the red (-1.96%), while consumer staples (+0.59%) and health care (+0.70%) rounded out the laggards. Year-to-date, health care remains the best performing sector (+4.08%) and energy (+0.36) has finally moved out of last place and into positive territory for the year. Utilities (-0.57%) has been the worst performing sector so far in 2015. 

MSCI World Index Performance By Sector

MSCI World Index Performance By Sector

The performance story in the emerging markets last week was similar, it just wasn't as extreme. Energy (+3.16%) was the best performing sector followed closely by materials (+3.14%). However, the third best performing sector was a counter-cyclical sector. Consumer staples ended the week 1.83% higher. The average stock in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index ended the week 1.02% higher. The worst performing sector last week was health care (-2.40%) followed by utilities (-2.15%). Year-to-date, information technology (+5.23%) is the best performing sector followed by energy (+4.18%) and consumer staples (+3.5%). Utilities is by far the worst performing sector in the emerging markets. It is down 5.27% so far this year while the second worst performing sector, financials, is only down 0.75%. 

MSCI Emerging Markets Index Performance By Sector

MSCI Emerging Markets Index Performance By Sector