Fed days have historically been good days for the market, but the last two have been anything but good. After falling 0.93% on the last Fed day on May 1st, the S&P 500 (SPY) fell 1.38% today. But just how painful was today for investors? Unless you're heavily invested in the defensive sectors, you likely outperformed the market.
As shown below, it was the four defensive sectors that did the worst, with Utilities leading the way lower with a decline of 2.29%. Telecom was down 2.2%, followed by Consumer Staples at -1.99% and Health Care at -1.53%. The only cyclical sector that underperformed the market was Industrials with a decline of 1.53%.
Below is a look at today's performance across all asset classes. Like the cyclicals, smallcaps also outperformed today, which is not usually seen on big down days. Again, it was the high-yielding defensive sectors that sold off the most, which is a direct result of the spike in interest rates that occurred following the Fed announcement. It's hard to like a day like today if you're a bull, but it could have been a lot worse.
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