Only 1 Sector Is Up Over the Past Month
2026-04-01 15:20:00 ET
Only one sector of the S&P 500 index was up in March. You might have guessed it. It was the energy sector. As a group, energy stocks in the index were up about 11.9% for the month. Every other sector in the index was down in March, from utilities (down 4.5%) to healthcare (down 10.6%). The overall S&P 500, by the way, was down about 7.6% for the month.
What's different about energy stocks? Well, they're heavily focused on fossil fuels like oil. The price of oil spiked in March due to the Middle East war and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 20% of the world's seaborne oil travels.
Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is up 55% since the war began in late February. The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. has climbed more than $1, to about $4 (a national average for regular gasoline), according to AAA.
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