SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Halfway through 2018, investing in Wall Street’s leading S&P 500 stock index has been nothing to shout about.
The index of about 500 of the largest U.S. corporations has risen 1.7 percent year to date, far short of its 8 percent increase in the first half of 2017, even as the technology-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC and Russell 2000 index of smaller companies touch record highs.
Including dividends, the S&P 500 .SPX has returned only about 3 percent in 2018, compared with nearly 22 percent last year.
(Graphic: S&P 500 underperforms - reut.rs/2NbsFjB)
While newly enacted corporate tax cuts propelled a nine-year bull market higher in January, fears of an escalating trade war between the United States and China have lately become a persistent counterweight denting investor sentiment.
Investors currently favor small-cap stocks because they are seen as benefiting more than large companies from the deepest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in over 30 years, with some on Wall Street also betting that smaller companies may be less at risk of trade tariffs.
The Russell 2000 index is up 7 percent year to date, while the Nasdaq has surged 9 percent, buoyed by the tech sector’s popularity with investors.
(Graphic: U.S.-China trade and the S&P 500 - reut.rs/2ICOULJ)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI has declined 2 percent in the past six months, weighed down by double-digit declines in 3M Co (MMM.N), Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N), Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N), and General Electric Co
