The once-hot financial services sector, the second-largest sector weight in the S&P 500, rapidly turned cold in the face of some dovish commentary from the Federal Reserve earlier this month. For example, the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF) is off 4% over the past month.
The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (NYSEArca: KBE), which focuses exclusively on bank stocks, has been even worse, slumping 7.3% over the past month. Those data points indicate that investors considering financial services stocks and the related ETFs might have to exercise some patience.
The financial sector is getting hit by a double whammy as more are growing concerned over Trump’s ability to deliver on promises and yields on Treasury bonds pulled back.
U.S. equities have been rallying since the election on hopes and optimism that the new Trump administration would enact pro-growth policies to fuel the high-flying market valuations. However, some traders and investors are expressing concerns that the Trump trade is overbought, which makes the equities market vulnerable to quick turns.
“I think the key here is being patient, and I think it just needs some time. I think you want to see it carve out that base, but come second half of the year, we do think financials should continue to do well. So a little bit more neutral, near term,” said Oppenheimer’s head of technical analysis, Ari Wald, in an interview with CNBC.