View from the Observation Deck 

1. Today's blog post is intended to show how large-cap equities have performed over specific periods since the start of 2000. Keep in mind that this period includes two severe bear markets, multiple wars, recessions and a global financial crisis.
2. The first column captures the entire period. The second column represents the current bull market, which began the day after the close of trading on 3/9/09. The third column shows performance since the S&P 500 Index registered its all-time high on 5/21/15.
3. One of our key takeaways is the strong showing by both the consumer discretionary and consumers staples sectors in each of the three periods. 
4. While the information technology sector has posted competitive cumulative total returns since the start of the bull market, its showing (-5.64%) since the start of 2000 reflects the severity of the bursting of the Internet bubble in March 2000. The telecommunication services sector was also negatively impacted (-10.16% since the start of 2000) primarily due to its role in providing infrastructure for broadband, in our opinion.
5. Utilities benefitted from an extended period of low interest rates. The dividend yields offered by utility stocks were likely attractive to income-oriented investors at various times throughout the period, in our opinion.
6. Lastly, the energy and materials sectors have clearly posted the worst showings, down 30.77% and 25.59%, respectively, since the market peaked on 5/21/15. Both have been negatively impacted by a slowdown in global growth and a strong U.S. dollar.

This chart is for illustrative purposes only and not indicative of any actual investment. The illustration excludes the effects of taxes and brokerage commissions or other expenses incurred when investing. Investors cannot invest directly in an index. The S&P 500 Index is a capitalization-weighted index comprised of 500 stocks used to measure large-cap U.S. stock market performance, while the 10 major S&P 500 Sector Indices are capitalization-weighted and comprised of S&P 500 constituents representing a specific sector.

To Download a PDF of this post, please click here.