Image Source: Unsplash

Since its closing low on April 19, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) has rallied over 20% in five weeks. When anything rallies that much in so little time, you can't help but take notice, but in the case of the SOX, the current rally is already the second this year - and it's not even June. 

As shown below, the SOX rallied 21.2% in the five weeks ending on March 7, and back in June, it was also up 20% over five weeks for a third time in the last year.

The fact that there have been three separate five-week rallies of at least 20% sounds pretty remarkable. In the post-COVID environment, though, they've been somewhat common, with eight other occurrences (besides the current one) since April 2020.

That's more than the seven total occurrences from 2003 through 2019, but from the SOX's inception through the end of 2002, when semis were a much less 'mature' sector, there were a total of 20 different periods when the SOX rallied at least 20% in five weeks. As shown in the chart below, in many of those periods, the magnitude of the gain was much larger than 20%.

More By This Author: