The markets have moved into the final stages of the first quarter, all with gains to report. Today we go over all the different areas to see how things are going.
First, we'll take a look through the different indices to see how the year has progressed so far. Year to date, the Russell 2000 Midcap Index (NYSE: IWR) has been the leader with a gain of over 15%. However in the last few weeks, it's been a clear laggard and seems to be slowing. The Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: QQQ) is just a touch behind the Russell with a gain of 15.62%. Last week the QQQ was the clear leader as big tech pushed back to highs.
The Dow (NYSE: DIA) comes in as the worst performer on the year so far. Though it still boasts a gain of 10.78%, it's notably weaker than the other major indices. Over the last week the DIA has been held back thanks to the sharp selloff in Boeing (NYSE: BA).
The tech sector (NYSE: XLK) comes in as the best-performing sector of the year with a gain of 17.76%. It should be noted that 4.76% of that came in the last five trading days thanks in part to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which finally sparked a new round of buying.
Industrials (NYSE: XLI), Real Estate (NYSE: XLRE), and Energy (NYSE: XLE) all are bunched up in the number two spot, with gains of 14% each. Healthcare (NYSE: XLV) and Consumer Staples (NYSE: XLP) are the clear lagging sectors, with gains of only 6.33% and 7.72% respectively.
Finally, drilling down to the different groups of the market, you might not guess what the top performing group is. The Solar group (NYSE: TAN) is the best performing group of the S&P 500 so far this year with a gain of 29.49%. Many of the energy and tech groups are also at the top of the list, such as SPDR S&P Biotech (NYSE: XBI) and SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipt & Servs. (NYSE: XES). On the downside, it may come as no shock that Healthcare providers like iShares Dow Jones US Health Care (NYSE: IHF) are at the bottom of the list, with gains of only 4.33%.