As earnings season kicks off, the brief bear market the S&P 500 fell into earlier this month is a fading memory. Heading into Friday's trading, the S&P 500 was up 4.2% on the week and was up 6.4% in October. Friday closed out the week on an especially strong note; the S&P soared 1.74%.
Earnings are a key contributing factor. While Alcoa
Here's a look at which sectors saw the highest -- and lowest -- gains through last Thursday in a generally upbeat market.
Top 3 Performing Sectors
S&P Sector |
Weekly Price Change |
October Price Change |
---|---|---|
Information Technology | 5.7% | 9.2% |
Financials | 5.3% | 5.3% |
Energy | 5% | 8.6% |
Bottom 3 Performing Sectors
S&P Sector |
Weekly Price Change |
October Price Change |
---|---|---|
Utilities | .8% | 0.1% |
Consumer Staples | 2% | 3.1% |
Health Care | 2.3% | 2.6% |
Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data as of Oct. 13 price change. Monthly price change is Sept. 30 to Oct. 13.
Drilling down on individual stocks, Sprint Nextel
This Week's Top 3 Performing S&P 500 Companies
S&P Sector |
Weekly Price Change |
---|---|
Sprint Nextel | 15.4% |
Janus Capital Group |
15.2% |
Denbury Resources |
14.9% |
Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data as of Oct, 13 price change.
On the short end of the stick last week we find First Solar
Also making the S&P's worst-performer list were PG&E
Bottom 3 Performing S&P 500 Companies
S&P Sector |
Weekly Price Change |
---|---|
First Solar | (4.8%) |
PG&E | (1.6%) |
Textron | (4.9%) |
Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data as of Oct. 13 price change.
Looking ahead to this week, we find a number of high-profile companies are set to report. One of the more interesting will be Apple
Analysts are expecting $7.29 in earnings per share on $29.45 billion in sales, but they'll be wrong. Even with many consumers holding out on buying a new iPhone this summer while rumors swirled that the next iPhone was just around the corner, Apple will almost surely see a quarter-over-quarter rise in iPhone sales. Anything less than $32 billion in sales and $8 in earnings per share will probably be a disappointment, and Apple is likely to beat both targets.
That's it for our recap of this week's biggest gainers and laggards. To stay updated on any of the companies listed above, add them to your Watchlist by clicking the "+" sign next to the respective tickers. Don't have a Watchlist yet? You can start one for free