We all know by now that it has been a very strong year for the Technology sector. Not only have the gains been large, but just about every stock associated with the sector not named IBM has had a great year. In fact, within the S&P 500 Technology sector, all seven Industry Groups have rallied at least 10%, and all but two (Communications Equipment and IT Services) are up over 30% (table below)! So far this quarter, Technology has remained strong with every Industry Group in the black by at least 5%. Suffice it to say, 2017 has been the year of Tech.
While Technology has seen broad-based strength in what has been a strong market overall, some may be surprised to see that the Utilities sector has also seen a very broad rally. While the gains haven’t been nearly as strong as the advance in Tech, the Utilities sector is the only other one where all of its Industry Groups are up at least 10%! When it comes to market performance, you don’t typically see Technology and Utilities sharing similar characteristics or trends, but this year they have seen among the most uniform rallies within their respective groups.
