S&P 500 on track for biggest quarterly gain since 2015

Technology companies have led broader indexes higher in the first quarter.

The S&P 500 is set to post its biggest quarterly gain since 2015, lifted by a brightening economic outlook and rising confidence among businesses and consumers.

Stocks extended their post-election climb in the first three months of the year, adding to fourth-quarter gains. However the leading sectors shifted in 2017 to companies that tend to gain in times of economic growth from companies expected to benefit from changing U.S. policy following the presidential election.

A growing uncertainty over whether the Trump administration can enact a pro-business economic agenda hurt sections of what had been known as the Trump trade, financial stocks and industrial companies. Investors instead turned to companies that grow with the economy, such as large technology and internet companies.

That uncertainty that was exacerbated in March during the struggle by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to pass a health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act.

In March, financial company stocks in the S&P 500 declined 2.2%, and industrial companies declined 0.5%.

During the first quarter, technology companies have led broader indexes higher. Tech stocks in the S&P 500 have jumped 12% in the first three months of the year, by far the best-performers in the index during that period.

The S&P 500 is on track to rise 5.6% for the quarter, its best quarterly performance since the fourth quarter of 2015.

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