Markets
Visualizing S&P 500 Performance in 2022, by Sector
Visualizing S&P 500 Performance in 2022, by Sector
Tracking indexes over the course of a year reveals a lot about market trends and sentiment. The S&P 500’s performance over the course of 2022 is a great example.
Throughout the year, inflation rates have remained high and interest rates have likewise been climbing around the world. Accompanied by the looming threat of a recession, some sectors have been hit harder than others.
The above visualization from Jan Varsava shows U.S. dividend-adjusted stock performance for each company in the S&P 500 index in 2022, from the start of the year through the end of September.
S&P 500 Performance (Jan 1 to Sep 30, 2022)
In 2022, the S&P 500 index dropped -23.9% through the end of September. Let’s take a look at some of the major trends from this year’s stock market.
S&P 500 Sector Performance | 2022 Q1–Q3 |
---|---|
Energy | +30.71% |
Utilities | -8.58% |
Consumer Staples | -13.52% |
Health Care | -14.15% |
Industrials | -21.72% |
Financials | -22.41% |
Basic Materials | -24.90% |
Consumer Cyclical | -30.32% |
Real Estate | -30.43% |
Technology | -31.93% |
Communication Services | -39.43% |
Winners
The energy sector has been the noticeable standout and performed significantly well since the beginning of the year, as sanctions surrounding Russia impacted oil and gas supplies resulting in sharp price increases.
Top performing energy stocks as of September 30th, 2022 included Occidental Petroleum (OXY) up 112% year to date (YTD), and Marathon Petroleum (MPC) which rose 52% YTD.
Traditional defensive sectors such as healthcare, consumer staples, and utilities, although down for the year, also performed better than the overall index.
Losers
Growth stocks in both technology and communication services underperformed since the beginning of this year, as the value of future earnings were impacted by rising interest rates increasing the cost of capital.
Real estate, consumer cyclical (or consumer discretionary), and materials also underperformed compared to the overall index.
The trends are reflective of the fact that value stocks like energy and healthcare historically outperform growth stocks during periods of rising rates, though there are many varying factors that can alter performance.
Major Shifts in Q4
But as October has shown, the market is far from settled.
$META plummets a whopping 25%. $AMZN getting crushed on earnings after hours. Outside of big tech the market has been holding up ok. pic.twitter.com/w9TRz8ZOkH
— Jan @ Chartfleau (@chartfleau) October 27, 2022
Lower-than-expected earnings and overspending caused Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) to drop 24% over five days and Amazon to drop 13%.
And the final impact of rising interest rates have yet to be fully felt, though indexes generally fare well in the year following. Since 1927, the average S&P 500 return sits at around 11.5% in the 12 months following peak inflation.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.
Markets
Ranked: Top Countries by Stock Market Ownership
Where will people feel the most effects of financial markets turmoil? We rank countries by their stock market ownership rate.

Ranked: Top Countries by Stock Market Ownership
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Key Takeaways
- 55% of the American population is invested in the financial markets.
- They are the top country by stock market ownership, followed by Canada (49%).
The rise of no-fee investment platforms have pushed people into the stock market, particularly those under the age of 35.
But some countries have a mature investment landscape, with a higher share of the population already holding invested assets.
We rank the stock ownership rate for 32 countries using data from HelloSafe, a financial services comparison website. They used the latest available figures available at the World Bank from 2023–2024.
This data includes direct shareholding as well as exposure via life insurance and pension funds.
Which Countries Are Most Invested in the Stock Market?
More than half of the American population (55%) is invested in the stock market, the highest for any country in this dataset.
Rank | Country | Region | % of shareholding population | # of shareholders |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | Americas | 55% | 185.4M |
2 | 🇨🇦 Canada | Americas | 49% | 19.1M |
3 | 🇦🇺 Australia | Oceania | 37% | 9.6M |
4 | 🇬🇧 UK | Europe | 33% | 22.1M |
5 | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | Oceania | 31% | 1.6M |
6 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | Europe | 22% | 2.3M |
7 | 🇷🇺 Russia | Europe | 21% | 30.5M |
8 | 🇫🇮 Finland | Europe | 19% | 1.0M |
9 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | Europe | 18% | 1.5M |
10 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | Europe | 17% | 901K |
11 | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | Asia | 16% | 16.2M |
12 | 🇯🇵 Japan | Asia | 15% | 18.7M |
13 | 🇫🇷 France | Europe | 15% | 10.3M |
14 | 🇵🇹 Portugal | Europe | 15% | 1.5M |
15 | 🇩🇪 Germany | Europe | 14% | 11.8M |
16 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | Europe | 14% | 2.5M |
17 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | Africa | 14% | 8.5M |
18 | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong | Asia | 14% | 1.0M |
19 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | Asia | 13% | 2.9M |
20 | 🇪🇸 Spain | Europe | 13% | 5.9M |
21 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | Asia | 8% | 473K |
22 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | Americas | 8% | 17.1M |
23 | 🇮🇹 Italy | Europe | 7% | 4.1M |
24 | 🇨🇳 China | Asia | 7% | 98.7M |
25 | 🇮🇳 India | Asia | 6% | 85.8M |
26 | 🇦🇹 Austria | Europe | 6% | 510K |
27 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | Europe | 5% | 590K |
28 | 🇵🇱 Poland | Europe | 5% | 1.8M |
29 | 🇦🇷 Argentina | Americas | 5% | 2.3M |
30 | 🇵🇭 Philippines | Asia | 2% | 1.8M |
31 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | Americas | 1% | 1.5M |
32 | 🇲🇦 Morocco | Africa | 1% | 190K |
Ranked second, 49% of all Canadians are invested, and the two North American countries are far ahead of the rest of the world.
Many of the top 10 countries have public pension funds linked to markets, which may help increase their ownership rates.
Interestingly, the two most populous countries in the world, India and China both have single-digit stock market ownership rates at 6% and 7% respectively.
However even these small shares are large shareholding communities, numbering nearly 100 million each.
Ticket to Turbulence
The first four months of the new Trump presidency has been the single-worst start to a term for financial markets.
Before the newest pause on tariffs, the S&P 500 had lost 15% of its value since January, the most for a new term since the index started in 1957.
However, as the White House reinstated yet another pause on its earlier announced tariffs, markets regained some of its lost ground. (It’s still down 7% YTD as of writing this post).
With more than half of the American population invested, this turbulent ride is being widely felt.
Learn More on the Voronoi App 
The S&P 500 has outperformed every other stock exchange in the world since 2015. Check out: Top Countries by Stock Market Returns Since 2015 to see where other top exchanges like the DAX and FTSE rank.
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