All 11 S&P 500 sectors started higher and all 11 S&P 500 sectors finished higher. Today’s gains ranged from 1.5% to 5.1%.
The best-performing sector was the energy sector (+5.1%), which also happened to be last week’s worst-performing sector.
A Credit Suisse upgrade of Exxon Mobil (XOM 91.47, +5.35, +6.2%) to Outperform from Neutral bolstered the sector’s performance along with a bump in oil prices ($109.46, +1.40, +1.3%). Notwithstanding today’s heady gain, the energy sector remains down 11.2% for the month.
The mega-cap stocks, though, held a performance edge over most classes. That made sense in the context of today’s rebound-minded trade since the mega-cap stocks have been among the hardest-hit stocks this year. The Vanguard Mega-Cap Growth ETF (MGK) jumped 2.6% versus a 1.7% gain for the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP).