If the stock market can move sectors and stocks, which sectors and stocks are most likely to move in step with the stock market? Sectors and individual stocks most highly correlated to the overall market can use the S&P 500 SPDR ETF (SPY) as a directional indicator.

The following sectors are most correlated the S&P 500 SPDR ETF (SPY).

XLI Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund
XLK Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund
XLE Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund
XLV Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund
XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund

The following individual stocks are most correlated the S&P 500 SPDR ETF (SPY).

FDX FedEx Corporation
MET MetLife Inc
COP ConocoPhillips
GS Goldman Sachs Group Inc
COF Capital One Financial Corp
ORCL Oracle Corporation
CMCSA Comcast Corp
COST Costco Wholesale Corporation
MMM 3M Company
EMR Emerson Electric Co
JPM JPMorgan Chase & Co
GD General Dynamics Corp
CSCO Cisco Systems Inc
UNP Union Pacific Corp
EXC Exelon Corp
MA MasterCard Inc
TXN Texas Instruments Inc
TWX Time Warner Inc
ACN Accenture PLC
BAX Baxter International Inc
QCOM QUALCOMM Inc
SBUX Starbucks Corp
MS Morgan Stanley
SPG Simon Property Group Inc
LLY Eli Lilly and Co

Dave Mecklenburg is the Editor-in-Chief of TigerSharkTrading.com.