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.
"There's still an overhang from investors feeling like they have been burned in this cycle before," said Trip Rodgers, a portfolio manager of the Hennessy BP Energy fund."There's only so many times you can get caught off-guard before you start to feel skeptical that higher prices are here to stay." Oil prices are up by more than 35per cent since the start of the year, due in part to higher-than-expected global demand, production cuts from OPEC and the effect of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela. Economists expect the price of both Brent crude and U.S. light crude to stay above US$60 for the rest of this year, according to the latest Reuters poll.Yet energy companies continue to lag the broader market, with the S&P 500 energy sector down 3.6per cent since the start of the quarter.
Noah Barrett, an analyst who works on several funds at Janus Henderson Investors, said the outsized gap between the gain in oil prices and the muted performance of energy stocks may help fuel a"catch-up trade" later this year. Yet for that to happen, companies must prove to investors that they can keep a lid on spending, he said.