Major U.S. indices turned around for the year in February. They formed the high for 2016 in April and then retraced. On May 19th, the market made a one-day bullish reversal candlestick and has been on an uptick since then. So let’s take a look how the major indices are doing compared to each other.

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The relative strength line comparing with S&P 500, shows that  Dow Jones Industrial Averages marginally outperformed &P 500 from March to late-April. Since then it is underperforming.

The Dow Transportation Index was outperforming the S&P 500 in the beginning. In late-April, it started to underperform the broader index and for the past few days it is about even.

For most of the rally from February to mid-April, NASDAQ Composite was about even with S&P 500. Then from then till mid-May, it underperformed. After that it again started to outperform the S&P 500.

Smaller cap Russell 2000 has been the leading S&P 500 for most of the rally since February. It briefly underperformed the large-cap index from late-April to mid-May. Since then, it has again regained the leadership.

Clearly, since mid-May, Russell 2000 and NASDAQ Composite are outperforming S&P 500, which is outperforming Dow Jones Industrial Averages. When we compare these two then we find the NASDAQ was either underperforming or was even with Russell 2000 from February to early April-April. Then it underperformed the Russell tile late April, when it took the leadership. Since mid-May, it is either equal or underperforming the small cap index.
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