When asked which two sectors would underperform this year, I picked Financials and Materials. The first I thought would still be susceptible to Euro-contagion, US regulation, and mortgage market fallout. The second I thought would see a leveling-off in commodity prices as China slowed down. And I thought Energy would be a top out-performer. Got that one wrong too... so far.

Surprisingly, Financials (XLF) were the top-performing sector in the S&P grouping of 9 SelectSectors, as shown below. I guess they were so trashed in late 2011 that they had a lot of recovery to do as Euro-worries fell away.

Two questions...

If you made money in Technology (XLK) and/or Consumer Discretionary (XLY), what were your biggest winners?

Energy (XLE) gave back half of its 3-month gains in only the past 6 or so trading sessions. Is this a bigger signal about the global economy, or a buying opportunity?

Cooker


 
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