With less than three trading days left in December, most sectors are sitting on pretty big declines for the month.  As shown below, Energy (XLE) is down more than 10% on the month, while Materials (XLB) is down 9.8%.  Real Estate (XLRE), Utilities (XLU), Industrials (XLI), Health Care (XLV), and Financials (XLF) are all down more than 4%.  The only two sectors doing well are Consumer Discretionary (XLY) and Technology (XLK), but these two are down big today, so who knows how they'll close out the month on the last two trading days next Monday and Tuesday.

Below is a more expansive look at asset class performance using our key ETF matrix.  For each ETF, we include its YTD return, its return since the election on 11/5, and its December performance through mid-day on 12/27.

Weakness this month has left returns since Election Day looking quite different than they looked in the immediate aftermath of Trump's victory.  While small-caps were thought to be a beneficiary of the incoming administration, the Russell 2,000 (IWM) is now down 0.7% since Election Day, while the mega-cap Tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) is up the most of key index ETFs with a gain of 5.8%.  

Year-to-date, check out the huge gain seen for the S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW).  It's up 37.9%, which is the 2nd best performing ETF in the entire matrix behind the Semis (SMH).  

Interestingly, while the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) is up 27.7% on the year, the equal-weight version of the index (QQQE) is only up 8.3%.  That's worse than even the small-cap Russell 2,000's (IWM) YTD gain of 11.9%.  So even within the large-cap Nasdaq 100, the mega-caps have driven pretty much all of this year's gains.

(Click on image to enlarge)

If you'd like to read an expansive review of 2024 and where we see things going in 2025, you'll get all of that and more by signing up for our paid research service right now.  If there's ever a time to try us out, it's now!  

And our 2025 All Access Special is only live for a few more days.  With this special, you'll get the first two months of Bespoke All Access (Institutional) for just $20, then you'll receive a 25% discount off the regular monthly rate for life if you stick with the service past the first two months.  As always, you can cancel at any time.  

More By This Author:

Down The Hatch
Are Continuing Claims A Concern?
Happy Holidays Above The 200-DMA