Sector and industry P/E ratios and performance
The price-to-earnings ratio and the average daily price change of every sector and industry, on each of the NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX, at the latest close. Sectors carry five years of daily P/E history and industries one, so a group's multiple can be read against its own past as well as against its peers.
What This Page Shows
Each row is a sector (Technology, Energy, Healthcare and the rest) or one of its industries on one exchange, with its P/E ratio and the average price change of its listed companies that day, in percent. The figures are per exchange, so the same sector can differ between the NYSE and the NASDAQ: the technology companies listed on each are not the same set.
Reading Sector P/E Ratios
A sector's P/E reflects both how fast its earnings are expected to grow and how much the market will pay for them. Faster-growing groups such as technology usually carry higher multiples than mature, steady ones such as utilities or energy. Comparing a company's own P/E with its sector's is a quick check of whether it trades at a premium or a discount to its peers, and a sector's P/E far from its own history is a sign the market's view of the whole group has shifted.
Sector Rotation
The daily change column shows where money moved that day. When defensive sectors (utilities, consumer staples, healthcare) lead while cyclical ones (technology, consumer discretionary, industrials) lag, the market is usually paying for safety. For options traders, a sector's move shows up in the implied volatility of its stocks and of the sector funds that hold them.