“John Person, president of NationalFutures.com and co-author of the Commodity Traders Almanac, points out that starting in February and running through mid-April,” oil services and exploration and production names have tendency to outperform the market,” writes Michael Kahn for Barron’s.
Indeed, the energy sector is entering its seasonal sweet spot. Over the past 20 years, the sector has posted gains 60% of the time February with that number jumping to 70% in March and 75% in April, according to Equity Clock. May is not too shabby either, with a gain frequency of 65% for the energy sector. [Buy Energy ETFs Now]
In the past month, the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSEArca: XOP) and the iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSEArca: IEO) are up 6.2% and 5.1%, respectively.
SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF
Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of IEO, RSP and SPY.