Below we highlight the performance of the 10 S&P 500 sectors from the market's all-time high date (10/9/07) to its bear market low date (3/9/09), its bear market low date (3/9/09) to current, and its all-time high date (10/9/07) to current.

As shown, the S&P 500 Consumer Staples sector is now down just 2.60% since October 9th, 2007.  The next closest sector to its 10/9/07 price is Health Care, which is still down 12.44%.  The S&P 500 itself is down 27.51% from its all-time high.  The Financial sector, which was down the most during the bear market and is up the most during the bull market, is down the most over the entire period with a decline of 57.74%.

The scatter chart below compares each sector's change during the bear market (10/9/07-3/9/09) to its change during the current bull market (3/9/09-present).  In general, the bigger the decline during the bear, the bigger the gain during the bull.  One sector that is out of whack is Telecom, which declined quite a bit during the bear, but has barely moved up at all during the bull.  Consumer Discretionary has been the second best performing sector during the bull market, while it was the fourth worst performer during the bear.  Both consumer sectors have really been standouts recently.

Below we highlight our trading range charts for the S&P 500 and its ten sectors.  In each chart, the light blue shading represents the sector's normal trading range, which is between one standard deviation above and below the 50-day moving average.  The red zone represents between one and two standard deviations above the 50-day moving average, and vice versa for the green zone.  A move into the red zone is considered overbought, while a move outside the red zone is considered extremely overbought. 

The S&P 500 has just moved into the red zone, which means it's now trading just above its normal trading range.  As shown in the chart, the index has typically traded in the red zone when it has been steadily moving higher during this bull market.  It isn't until the index moves to the top of the red zone that we typically see a pullback.

Every sector except Utilities and Telecom is now trading above its 50-day moving average.  Utilities and Telecom (both defensive sectors) are actually closer to the bottom of their trading ranges than the top.  Technology, Energy, Health Care, and Materials are the sectors currently trading above their 50-days but not yet in overbought territory.  The Financial sector has just moved into overbought territory today, but this move has allowed it to break its downtrend channel, which is a positive for the long term.  Industrials, Consumer Staples, and Consumer Discretionary are now at extreme overbought levels.  While they still may move higher, the risk/reward tradeoff is currently tilted toward the risk side.  It's probably best to just wait for either a pullback or some sideways action before putting money to work in these three sectors.

We've provided quite a bit of sector analysis in this post, but we provide much more in our Bespoke Premium service.  Each week, we publish an in-depth Sector Snapshot report that provides numerous charts for each sector.  Each day, we provide unique sector analysis in our Morning Lineup, ETF Trends report, and Stock Odds report.  You can view samples of these reports at www.bespokepremium.com/products.  If you're looking for a way to really analyze sectors on a continual basis, you can't go wrong with Bespoke Premium.