The two consumer-related sectors were at the highest and lowest ends of the returns spectrum in February. Consumer Staples rose 5.2% in February, and Consumer Discretionary fell 7%. Six of the 11 total sectors were positive in February.
The Median Sale Price of Existing Homes fell below $400,000 for the first month in nearly a year, as New Single-Family Home Sales plummeted 10.5% MoM in December. On the employment front, unemployment fell to 4.0% as labor force participation rose. In commodity news, Gold reached a new all-time high in February as oil prices slipped.
Yields on mid to long-term Treasury instruments fell in February while shorter-term yields remained largely unchanged month over month. The decline in longer-term yields helped push bond funds higher, including the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), which advanced 5.7% in February.
Off the YCharts! The Not-so-Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven stocks––Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), NVIDIA (NVDA), and Tesla (TSLA)–lifted the market higher in 2023 and 2024, combining for a 156.1% return over that two-year span compared to a 25.2% gain for the rest of the index. (The S&P 500 overall was up 53.2% between 2023-2024.)
However, the tables seem to be turning in 2025.
Though the S&P 500 is up 1.4% through the first two months in 2025, it’s the broader “S&P 493” that is keeping the overall index afloat as the Magnificent Seven finds itself in selloff mode. This chart highlights a potential shift in market leadership and a market rotation into the broader S&P 493 companies that have performed well while the largest tech stocks have struggled.
Continue reading: https://get.ycharts.com/resources/blog/monthly-market-wrap-february-2025/
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