Just 25 per cent of S&P 500 stocks have outperformed the index this year, UBS noted recently. Index gains have been largely driven by the “surging seven” – Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta, Tesla and Alphabet.
Stocktake has covered this theme repeatedly of late, but breadth finally appears to be improving. The equal-weighted version of the S&P 500, which weighs each component stock equally, has been strong lately, suggesting more stocks are participating in the rally.
The percentage of stocks above their 50-day (62 per cent) and 200-day average (60 per cent) is rising. Hi Mount Research’s Willie Delwiche, who has been concerned by weak breadth this year, is encouraged by the fact the number of stocks hitting new highs is now exceeding the number of new lows. Markets have been more “balanced” in June, says Bespoke Investment.
At the end of May, just three of the S&P 500′s 11 sectors had outperformed the index. However, every sector is up in June, with the number of outperformers “much more evenly split”.
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Market breadth still isn’t great but buying is no longer confined to technology stocks, says Barclays, which may be “a prelude to a sustained breakout from the recent trading range”.
