Banks Are Still the Worst Performing Industry Group Over the Last Year
It has certainly been a good couple of weeks for financial stocks. But the good times still haven’t been good enough to bring bank stocks out of last place among 24 developed market industry groups. On an equal-weighted, USD basis, developed market bank stocks have declined by -6.23% over the past year compared to the average developed market stock which is 5.27% higher. Granted, there has been a significant regional variance among banks stocks. For example, for DM America, bank stocks have actually been the eighth best performing industry group over the past year, returning 13.4%. Equity investors in DM Asia and DM EMEA haven’t had the same experience. Bank stocks are the worst performing industry group in DM Asia falling -9.61% and bank stocks are the third worst performing industry group in DM EMEA declining by -16.54% over the past year. All in all, as the last chart below indicates, the long-term relative performance trend of DM banks underperforming the MSCI World Index looks like it remains in place even with the impressive rally of the last few weeks.
Developed Market Equities
DM Americas
DM Asia