U.S. Equity Market Radar (February 20, 2012)
After suffering the first weekly loss of 2012 last week, the S&P 500 Index bounced back this week. Energy, technology and financials were the best performers, while utilities, industrials and basic materials lagged.
Strengths
- The energy sector was led by exploration and production companies, as Devon Energy, Chesapeake Energy and Newfield Exploration all rose by more than 10 percent.
- In the S&P 500 technology sector, JDS Uniphase, Micron Technology and Motorola Solutions each rose by approximately 7 percent for the week.
- In the financials sector, Hartford Financial Services Group and Zions Bancorp both rose by more than 8 percent.
Weaknesses
- While every sector in the S&P rose this week, utilities experienced the slightest gains, rising by just 0.27 percent.
- Gilead Sciences was the worst performer in the S&P 500, dropping by 12.57 percent for the week. On Friday, Gilead announced that patients taking an experimental hepatitis C drug relapsed within weeks of stopping treatment.
- A disappointing outlook for 2012 pushed Cliffs Natural Resources down nearly 10 percent for the week.
Opportunities
- The market has been able to shrug off every negative and climb that wall of worry.
Threats
- After such a strong start to the year, a pullback or consolidation in the market would not be surprising.
