2025-01-09 04:30:00 ET
The stock market is divided into sectors, with each group of stocks having commonalities with each other, usually because they are in similar industries. The broader market is divided into 11 sectors and overall it had a great year in 2024, managing a 25% total return.
Much of 2024's overall strong performance was driven by just three of the 11 stock market sectors (communication services, financials, and consumer discretionary) that managed to outperform the total return of the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) . The other sectors all still managed a positive total return (when including dividends) for the year, but the bottom five likely underwhelmed investors looking to boost their portfolios.