Continuing its look at what has and hasn’t been working in the market of late, Bespoke Investment Group says today on Seeking Alpha that the consumer staples and healthcare sectors have had the best relative strengths versus the S&P 500 over the past 12 months. That’s not surprising, Bespoke says, given those sectors’  reputations as defensive areas of the market. But Bespoke also notes that the consumer discretionary sector has outperformed the S&P over the past year, and has done particularly well in the past few weeks. “With all the troubles facing the consumer, it is encouraging to see that this sector has manged to show some strength,” Bespoke notes, “at least on a relative basis.”

The energy, telecom, and utilities sectors have also shown strength compared to the S&P, according to Bespoke, while the financial, technology, industrials, and materials sectors have all underperformed the index.