This year has been a mixed one for markets - unlike 2022, where every S&P 500 Index ($SPX) subsector except for energy closed in the red. While the broader markets are still in the green for 2023, the rally hasn’t been particularly broad-based, and has been mostly carried by the first-half rise in tech names amid the optimism over artificial intelligence (AI).
Around half of S&P 500 constituents are in the red this year, and many more have underperformed the benchmark. While it is quite usual for some stocks to underperform the index, the dispersion in price action has been particularly stark this year, and the massive price moves in Big Tech names have somewhat masked the dismal returns from other sections of the market. Incidentally, the Nasdaq Composite's ($NASX) YTD outperformance over the Russell 2000 (RUT) is the highest since 1999, showing how tech names have led the rally even as other sectors have lagged.
