Wall St Week Ahead: As earnings loom, investors weigh recession resilience

Global fund managers increased their allocations to healthcare and banks by about 5 percentage points in June, while cutting holdings of popular recession plays such as cash and consumer staples companies, BofA Global said.

NEW YORK: As second-quarter earnings approach, investors are looking at beaten-down sectors which might gain ground regardless of whether the US economy falls into recession this year.

While the benchmark S&P 500 has gained nearly 15% year-to-date driven by a handful of megacap growth and technology names, some sectors have lagged, including the S&P 500 healthcare, which is down 4.7%. The financials sector is down 2%, while energy is nearly 9% lower.