Monday, February 9, 2015

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
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MSCI World Index Performance By Sector
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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
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MSCI Emerging Markets Index Performance By Sector
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