Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF) surged in May to help power the S&P 500 to new all-time highs but the financial ETF is trailing the market in June as a leader turns laggard.
XLF is worth keeping an eye on because the performance of banking stocks is a helpful indicator of risk appetite in the market.
The financial ETF is still ahead of the S&P 500 year to date despite lagging the index so far in June. XLF is up 15.4% so far this year, compared with a gain of 11.4% for iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV).
Investors Intelligence technical analyst notes XLF is reversing this month after several attempts to break through $20 a share.