Signs inside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).STAN HONDA/AFP / Getty Images
Even with Thursday's market carnage, August's low point for the S&P 500 seems to holding, if only by a thread. The S&P 500 was recently spotted at 1,121, down 46 points. That puts it about 0.1 per cent above its low on Aug. 8. In other words, the index is sitting at the low end of a six-week trading range.
But while the index itself may be back to where it was six week ago, sectors within the index certainly aren't -- with investors apparently keen to move out of economically sensitive areas of the market and into more defensive holdings.
Defensive utilities have risen 9 per cent and health care stocks have risen 3.9 per cent. At the same time, economically sensitive energy stocks have fallen the most, down 5.5 per cent, while financials have fallen 5.2 per cent and materials have fallen 5.1 per cent. In other words, the current low is a little different than the previous low.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index has broken 1.8 per cent below its previous low in August and is now exploring ground not seen in about a year, due to its 500-point swoon on Thursday. Again, investors have rotated out of cyclical stocks and into defensives during the trading range of the past six weeks.
Defensive utilities have risen 8.4 per cent, telecom services have risen 4.3 per cent and consumer staples have risen 2.2 per cent. Among cyclical stocks, industrials have fared the worst, falling 6.7 per cent, energy stocks have fallen 5.6 per cent and financials have fallen 2.4 per cent.
For what it's worth, materials have held up well over the period as well, rising 1.6 per cent. Thursday marks an interesting shift though: With gold down sharply, and gold producers going with it, materials have slumped 6.3 per cent – marking the worst performance among the 10 subindexes within the TSX.
David Berman