Momentum Outpaces Other S&P Factors in June, Q2

The S&P 500 Momentum Index rose 7.5% in June, climbed 44.4% in the second quarter and is up about 36% year-to-date, leading S&P factor-based equity exposures.

The Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF (SPMO) returned more than 30% after its semiannual rebalancing on March 20. The fund holds roughly 100 momentum-weighted names, charges a 13-basis-point expense ratio and saw large contributions from semiconductor and AI-infrastructure-linked stocks including Micron, Nvidia and Broadcom that lifted returns in April and continued into June.

Quality and dividend-focused indexes posted gains in June. The S&P 500 Quality Index climbed 5.9% and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats rose 5.3%. The Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ) has a 15-basis-point expense ratio and holdings such as Lam Research, Visa and Mastercard. The ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) tracked 69 companies that had increased dividends for at least 25 years as of May 31, 2026.

Among S&P factor benchmarks, the S&P 500 Growth Index fell 1.76% in June. The S&P 500 Enhanced Value Index gained 2.37%, the S&P 500 Value Index was up 0.05% and the S&P Low Volatility Index added 3.94%. The S&P 500 Equal Weight Index increased 2.38% for the month.

At the capitalization level, the S&P SmallCap 600 rose 7.29% in June and was the best-performing headline index for the quarter with nearly a 20% Q2 gain. The S&P MidCap 400 gained 3.59%, while the S&P 500 Top 50 fell 4.62% in June. The broad, cap-weighted S&P 500 lost 95 basis points for the month and was up 15.2% quarter-to-date.

Market participants used momentum strategies to capture rapid price trends and allocated to equal-weight and dividend-focused funds to reduce concentration in the largest technology firms. Momentum gains were concentrated in a relatively small group of high-velocity names, while quality, dividend and smaller-cap indexes recorded gains in June.