WallStreet Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 While down slightly Tuesday, the S&P information technology sector has retaken the lead among the S&P 500 sectors as we head down 2009's home stretch. Since the end of the third quarter the tech sector is up 11.3%, outstripping the gains seen by the second-place consumer discretionary sector, which up 10.3%. (The health care sector is a close third, up 10.2% during the quarter to date.) The S&P 500 is up only about 6.8% over the same period.We all know Apple,*which has been getting plenty of attention lately, is contributing to tech's year-end sprint. But Apple's once arch nemesis Microsoft actually is a more important contributor to the rise in the market cap-weighted index during the fourth quarter, rising 22% since Sept. 30. Microsoft really began to pick up the pace around the same time Oracle helped shift tech into higher gear by reporting stronger-than-expected earnings on Dec. 18. It's also worth noting that*Google is up 25% during the same time period.In a similar vein, the crew over at Bespoke Investment Group crunched some numbers comparing the performance of the Nasdaq to the S&P recently. Their findings:For the year, the Nasdaq is up 45.28% versus 25% for the S&P 500 and 20% for the Dow. And since the market hit its all-time highs on October 9th, 2007, the Nasdaq is now down just 18.3%. The Dow is down 25.5% since then and the S&P 500 is down about 28%. If it weren't for tech, things would look a lot worse.More... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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