The aggregate market cap of the S&P 500 index companies grew 22.1% between 31 January 2021 and 31 January 2022, according to GlobalData, with total value rising from $34.8 trillion to $42.5 trillion. The leading data and analytics company found that the information technology sector generated the most market value over the period, followed by financials and communication services.

Parth Vala, Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Over the period, the S&P 500 index posted an annual return of 21.6%, which was significantly up by 101.8% from its lowest level on 23 March 2020. Companies ranked in the top 10 stocks—Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, Meta Platforms, Berkshire Hathaway, J&J, Visa, and NVIDIA—accounted for 26.5% of the S&P 500’s aggregate market cap.”

Information technology generated more than $2.3 trillion in its market value over the period, which helped it generate an aggregate market cap of $11.4 trillion. It was followed by financials, which had reached an aggregate market cap of $4.6 trillion as of 31 January 2022 and communication services, with an aggregate market cap of $6.2 trillion.

Snigdha Parida, Analyst on the Thematic Team at GlobalData, comments: “2021 was a very strong year for tech. According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Deals in 2021 – Top Themes by Sector – Thematic Research’, the technology, media and telecoms (TMT) space continued to be the biggest sector in terms of both mergers & acquisitions (M&A) deal value and volume, with 12,585 deals worth around $1.2 trillion recorded in 2021. Furthermore, M&A deal value grew by 22% from $1 trillion from 9,942 deals in 2020 to $1.2 trillion from 12,585 deals in 2021.”

In terms of market value percentage growth, energy companies outpaced other sectors, having seen 68.4% growth over the period, and reached a market cap of $1.3 trillion. Energy constituents growing more than 50% included Devon Energy (209%), Marathon Oil (165.2%), Diamondback (155.2%), Coterra (143.9%), APA (123.8%), EOG Resources (119.4%), ConocoPhillips (115.6%), Pioneer Natural Resources (+104.5%), Occidental (88.3%), Schlumberger (77.3%), Halliburton (76.6%), Hess (72.4%), Exxon Mobil (69.6%), Marathon (57.3%), Chevron (54.4%), and ONEOK (52.9%).

The real estate sector reported impressive growth in its market cap, reaching around $1 trillion and representing an annual growth of over 32%. Some of the top performers included Kimco Realty (109.4% growth), Realty Income (78.1%), Extra Space Storage (77.5%), and CBRE Group (65.8%).

Although the consumer discretionary sector* had a growth rate of 11.3%, generating $5.1 trillion in market value, it was the slowest-growing sector. Top performers that grew more than 50% were Ford Motor (93.6%), AutoZone (61%), Expedia (58.2%), and Tractor Supply (50.5%). The companies that lost more than 15% in their market value were Best Buy (-15.2%), VF Corp (-15.4%), and Etsy (-20.7%).

In terms of aggregate market value to number of constituents, communication services led with a value of $269.5 billion, followed by information technology ($149.6 billion), consumer discretionary ($84.5 billion), consumer staples ($84.3 billion), health care ($79.9 billion), financials ($69.2 billion), energy ($62.1 billion), industrials ($43.4 billion), real estate ($36 billion), materials ($35.1 billion), and utilities ($34.7 billion).

Vala adds: “With the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the S&P 500 index was down by 5.7% as of March 10, 2022, from the level it was at on January 31, 2022. The prolonged conflict could further affect the market valuation of S&P 500 constituents.”

* Consumer discretionary is a term for classifying goods and services that are considered non-essential by consumers, but desirable if their available income is sufficient to purchase them.