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).

XLY Consumer Discretionary Sector SPDR Fund
XLI Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund
XLB Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund
XLK Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund
XLV Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund
XLE Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund

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

TWX Time Warner Inc
GS Goldman Sachs Group Inc
DD E I du Pont de Nemours and Co
MMM 3M Company
BK The Bank of New York Mellon Corp
JPM JPMorgan Chase & Co
C Citigroup Inc
BAC Bank of America Corp
EMR Emerson Electric Co
GILD Gilead Sciences Inc
HON Honeywell International Inc
MA MasterCard Inc
UNP Union Pacific Corp
XOM Exxon Mobil Corp
LLY Eli Lilly and Co
MET MetLife Inc
MS Morgan Stanley
LMT Lockheed Martin Corp
F Ford Motor Co
BRK.B Berkshire Hathaway Inc
MDT Medtronic Inc
IBM International Business Machines Corp
BAX Baxter International Inc
COF Capital One Financial Corp
NSC Norfolk Southern Corp
WFC Wells Fargo & Company
ALL Allstate Corp
UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc
APC Anadarko Petroleum Corp
AXP American Express Co
NOV National Oilwell Varco Inc
JNJ Johnson and Johnson
GE General Electric Co
CAT Caterpillar Inc
SLB Schlumberger Ltd
NWSA News Corp
V Visa Inc
RTN Raytheon Co
MO Altria Group Inc
WMB Williams Companies Inc
CVS CVS Caremark Corp
USB US Bancorp
DIS The Walt Disney Co
PM Philip Morris International Inc
GOOG Google Inc
BA The Boeing Co
COST Costco Wholesale Corporation
HAL Halliburton Co
NKE Nike Inc

Dave Mecklenburg is the Publisher of TigerSharkTrading.com.