The first-quarter market boom was indeed impressive, with the S&P 500 Index surging 12% during the initial three months of 2012. The broad-based buying we witnessed in the market was especially strong in the financial, technology and consumer discretionary sectors, with each of these three S&P sectors leading the bullish charge.
The table below is a look at Bloomberg’s data showing the nine exchange-traded funds (ETFs) representing each respective sector:
| Sector | Ticker | Q1 Performance |
| Financials | XLF | +21.88% |
| Technology | XLK | +18.89% |
| Consumer Discretionary | XLY | +15.91% |
| Industrials | XLI | +11.38% |
| Materials | XLB | +10.78% |
| Health Care | XLV | +8.97% |
| Consumer Staples | XLP | +5.45% |
| Energy | XLE | +4.18% |
| Utilities | XLU | -1.70% |
As you can see, financials were the biggest winners in Q1, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLF) capturing top honors. This measure of bank stocks spiked 21.88% in the quarter as it rode gains in top components Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC). Bank stocks surged after the Federal Reserve announced that most banks had passed the latest �stress test� with flying colors.
In second place was technology stocks, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLK) surging 18.89% in the first three months of 2012. This high-profile sector has many of the most desirable growth stocks, including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). The appetite for stocks in the segment helped XLK enjoy one of its best quarters in years.
The gains in the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLY) also were strong in Q1, as people spent a lot of money with stalwarts in the sector such as McDonald�s (NYSE:MCD), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Interestingly, energy stocks posted only modest gains despite a big rise in the price of crude oil and gasoline. In fact, the Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLE), an ETF that holds the largest companies in the energy space, rose just 4.18% in Q1. That performance was bested nearly threefold by the S&P 500, and it put XLE near the bottom of the performance table. Top holdings in this fund include energy giants Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), and both were basically flat for the quarter. The large weighting of these stocks in XLE contributed to the mediocre sector showing.
The worst-performing group so far in 2012 has been utilities. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLU) was down 1.7%, and was the only S&P sector with a loss in Q1. Stocks in this space such as Dominion Resources (NYSE:D) and Exelon Corp (NYSE:EXC) sold off in the quarter, as money migrated from stable, low-beta sectors like utilities to financials and tech.
The sector performance through Q1 clearly shows that the risk trade is on, and if that risk-trade mentality continues dominating the market in Q2, we could be looking at very similar rankings three months from now.
As of this writing, Jim Woods did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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