S&P 500 Sector Sentiment — 2026-02-20
S&P 500 Sector Sentiment — 2026-02-20
Current tone: neutral
Latest score: 52.0/100
Cross-sector dispersion: 98.2 pts
Leadership is rotating across S&P 500 sectors. Scan the Forward return playbook for context, then the Sector map to see what’s leading vs lagging.
Scan the Forward return playbook for context, then the Sector map for leadership and laggards.
Leaders include Energy, Industrials.
Laggards include Consumer Disc., Technology.
Forward return playbook (SPX)
Historical medians and hit ratios from past dates that looked similar to today (conditional on the sentiment regime + a tight score band).
| Horizon | Median SPX | Hit Ratio | N |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M | 0.6% | 60.7% | 399 |
| 3M | 1.3% | 62.4% | 399 |
| 6M | 2.8% | 71.9% | 399 |
| 12M | 8.0% | 77.2% | 399 |
Sector map (0=cold, 100=hot)
Leading / Hot
- Energy: 99.8/100
- Industrials: 98.7/100
- Materials: 97.6/100
Lagging / Cold
- Consumer Disc.: 1.6/100
- Technology: 2.1/100
- Financials: 5.4/100
Neutral
- Real Estate: 96.0/100
- Consumer Staples: 73.0/100
- Utilities: 61.9/100
- Health Care: 18.7/100
- Comm. Services: 17.6/100
Read-through
- Higher dispersion usually means stock selection and factor tilts matter more than pure index direction.
- Use the playbook as a bias check, then size risk around the sector map (leaders vs laggards).