The Three Major Indices Closed 2023 With A Nine-Week Win Streak.
Participation was below-average throughout most of the week as investors looked ahead to another extended holiday weekend. Markets will be closed on Monday for New Year's Day.
Another factor that kept participation light was understanding that stocks have made big moves higher since October, which had the S&P 500 approaching its all-time high close (4,796.56) this week. The S&P 500 reached 4,793.30 at its high on Thursday, but backed off by the close and logged a slim decline on Friday.
Small cap stocks underperformed this week, leaving the Russell 2000 down 0.3%. That loss leaves the index up 12.1% in December and 15.1% this year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite registered gains of 4.4% and 5.5%, respectively, in December, which leaves them up 24.2% and 43.4%, respectively, for the year.
Four of the S&P 500 sectors declined this week while seven sectors logged gains. The energy sector (-1.4%) was the worst performer by a decent margin, followed by the consumer discretionary (-0.4%) and communication services (-0.4%) sectors. Meanwhile, the utilities (+1.1%) and consumer staples (+1.1%) sectors saw the largest gains.
Only three sectors declined in 2023 -- utilities (-10.2%), energy (-4.8%), and consumer staples (-2.2%) -- while the information technology (+56.4%), communication services (+54.4%), and consumer discretionary (+41.0%) sectors saw the biggest gains by far thanks to their mega cap constituents.
Notably, the 10-yr note yield closed the year unchanged at 3.88% after reaching an intraday high yield of 5.02% in mid-October. The 2-yr note yield declined 17 basis points this year to 4.25%.
Nasdaq Composite: +0.1% for the week / +43.4% YTD
S&P 500: +0.3% for the week / +24.2% YTD
Russell 2000: -0.3% for the week / +15.1% YTD
S&P Midcap 400: -0.2% for the week / +14.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.8% for the week / +13.7% YTD