There was some enthusiasm among the investors UBS met in looking at relative sector ideas, rather than making directional market calls.
And then we take a look at the best of those kind of companies, relative to the overall market, relative to the sector that they reside in, and relative to the subsector that they reside in, and try to pick the best businesses and then look at those companies that score well, and then try to see how they have done, relative to the overall market.
And far more of the European's package is in bonuses and free shares linked to the performance of the company relative to its sector or an index, rather than in options which relate rewards solely to the movement of the company's share price.
Among the globally-exposed stocks that UBS says look cheap relative to their sector are embattled oil giant BP, which is struggling to contain the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, drug-makers Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis, media and advertising companies Pearson and WPP, tobacco concern BAT, metals and mining giants, ArcelorMittal, Rio Tinto and Anglo American, financial firms ING and Aegon, capital goods companies Philips and Schneider Electric and energy company Repsol.
Its domestic demand (and particularly household demand) is already playing a much bigger role in driving growth, relative to the export sector, than it used to.
Since the country opened up to trade in 1976, the relative size of its manufacturing sector has declined.
The recent relative strength of the financial sector has helped EFA gain 9% year-to-date, versus 6% for OIDCX and 10.6% for OIGAX.
Therefore, as we enter a new earnings season, it will be important to see if the relative performance of the tech sector can improve.
Armed with index funds and strategies like sector rotation, relative value and tactical asset allocation, these advisers all attempt to earn their keep by beating benchmarks net of fees.
These have included the downturn in electronics from the end of 2000, the setback to financial services growth in 2002 and 2003, and the relative weakness of business services sector in 2004.
Efforts to attract and retain top managers at Freddie and its larger sibling, Fannie Mae, have been stymied by salary restrictions that are modest relative to comparable to private sector pay and by the fact that the firm's federal overseers have effective veto rights over major decisions.
In the middle ranks, outside hotspots such as London, the south-east and Bristol, the rewards are often not out of line with those for comparable private-sector jobs, if pensions, benefits and holidays are all added in, and have recently been rising in relative terms as private-sector pay has stalled.
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During the same period, the profitability of the financial sector has increased greatly relative to other industries.
The relative underperformer has been the tech sector, with the SPDR rising less than 5% this year.
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Manufacturing weakened in January, the Federal Reserve said Friday, but the sector has been a relative bright spot in the economy since the recession.
Such outflows hurt capital intensive U.S. companies and destroy U.S. manufacturing jobs relative to the less capital intensive service sector.
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Moroney suggests mixing the virtues of dividend stocks and the relative strength this year of the technology sector by tapping into a high dividend-payer in tech.
Why does the manufacturing sector have high accounts payable days relative to other industries?
Even Darfurians are cashing in on Khartoum's relative prosperity as many work here in the service sector.
And he stressed that the "impending age of austerity" would mean that "the greater job security and relative generous pay and pensions packages enjoyed by public sector workers will soon be a thing of the past".
Two of the sectors with the best relative performance for most of 2012, the Select Sector SPDR Financial ( XLE) and the Select Sector SPDR Consumer Discretionary ( XLY) were up 28.4% and 23.6% respectively in 2012.
That would settle the argument about the relative merits of private and public provision in the state sector.
Further, we expect AMD to underperform relative to peers as we warm up to the chip sector and expect SOX strength exiting 2012.
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He notes that a 10% drop year to date has priced in potential pressure in the U.S. federal government sector, and that the stock now looks cheap relative to rivals.
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This is the complex scenario of India's sugar sector, which--despite the country's relative embrace of free markets two decades ago--remains tied to the heavy hand of the state.
But relative prosperity has paradoxically sharpened discontent, especially among people who depend on the state-controlled formal sector for their livelihoods.
The financial sector is especially sensitive to the fiscal cliff negotiations, and we saw them lose their relative strength a bit after the election.
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For those who are not convinced of the value of relative performance, or RS analysis, I would point out that the RS analysis of the financial sector was negative early in the year, well before the fundamentals weakened.
"But while house prices tripled in the years since 1994, private sector rents only increased in line with earnings, and the costs of renting have as a result fallen relative to the costs of buying, " he added.
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