One number. One chart. One insight moving markets today.
The Market’s Up, Participation Still Has Space 📈
By Grant Hawkridge
December 9, 2025
Today's number is... 59.7%
59.7% of S&P 500 stocks are positive this year. Most stocks are green, but participation still has room to grow.
Here’s the chart:
Let's break down what the chart shows:
The chart plots each S&P 500 stock’s year-to-date return as a black bar, sorted from lowest to highest.
The red line marks the S&P 500’s return.
The yellow line marks the average stock return of all components in the S&P 500.
The Takeaway: This market is rising, while most stocks still lag the index.
The index is up 16.3%, but the average stock is only up 9.9%.
Most stocks are green, which gives this tape a strong base. You have 59.7% of the index positive for the year. That is not weakness. That gives this trend support if buyers rotate outside the leaders.
The underperformance is mild under the surface. A stock can lag the index and still work. That is the case here. You have 353 names trailing the benchmark, but most of them have posted a year-to-date gain.
That is not a market under stress.
This is where the opportunity sits for traders.
When the index itself outruns the average stock, the catch-up trades often drive the next leg. Leaders run first, then the rest try to catch up. That is what the setup looks like right now.
A rotation into the laggards closes the gap between 9.9% and 16.3%. That lift would strengthen the trend rather than fight it.
So, does rotation kick this trend into the next gear?
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