NEW YORK: The stock market surge since the start of the year that has sent the benchmark S&P 500 index up to new record highs is leaving behind one sector that typically outperforms in an expanding economy: energy.
A sharp rebound in the price of oil has not been enough to offset a long-standing reluctance on the part of investors to hold energy companies after prices collapsed in 2014. Energy companies in the S&P 500 are down 13% over the last year, while the broad index is up 10%. Over the last five years, energy companies have sunk 31%, while the S&P 500 as a whole is up nearly 60%.