The period from October to May (next year) has been the best period for US stocks since at least 1960. Practically all the gains have come during these seven months. But if we look at the different sectors of the market, can we spot the same pattern? What is the sector ETF performance per quarter?
This article looks at the historical sector performance per quarter for a selection of the most traded sectors of the US markets. We use a basket of ETFs as a proxy.
Sector ETF performance per quarter
The table below contains the most important sectors and their average performance per quarter. We measured performance from the close of one quarter until the close of the next.
The data are from the year 2000 or from the ETF’s inception (if later) and numbers are in percent.
| Ticker | Sector | 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | |
| DBC | Commodities | 0.54 | 3.71 | -1.51 | -0.33 | |
| GDX | Gold miners | 1.28 | 5.82 | -1.85 | -1.26 | |
| IYR | Real estate | 2.37 | 4.16 | 2.92 | 2.04 | |
| RTH | Retail | 2.63 | 2.01 | 1.76 | 3.99 | |
| SIL | Silver miners | 0.79 | 5.61 | 0.1 | 1.1 | |
| XHB | Homebuilders | 3.86 | 0 | 2.15 | 2.95 | |
| XLB | Materials | 1.59 | 2.66 | -0.73 | 6.94 | |
| XLE | Energy (oil) | 2.04 | 4.99 | -1.76 | 3.8 | |
| XLF | Financials | -0.83 | 2.56 | 1.59 | 4.51 | |
| XLI | Industrial | 0.66 | 2.4 | 1.01 | 5.46 | |
| XLK | Technology | 0.44 | 3.1 | 0.56 | 4.32 | |
| XLP | Consumer staples | 0.7 | 2.17 | 2 | 3.67 | |
| XLU | Utilities | 1.19 | 3.15 | 1.45 | 2.83 | |
| XLV | Health care | 1.68 | 3.34 | 0.41 | 3.64 | |
| XME | Metals and mining | 1.75 | 5.67 | -4.71 | 6.27 |
As you can see, the sector ETF performance per quarter varies much among the different sectors. Whether or not this is tradeable you need to backtest and evaluate yourself.Â
