Health Care Stays Hot as New Year Kicks Off

As 2014 unfolds, investors appear to be sticking with some of 2013’s tried and true winners.

Take health care.

The sector was one of the big stars of 2013, surging 39% and outperforming the S&P 500 by more than nine percentage points.

Health care happens to be Tuesday’s best-performing sector with a gain of around 1%. Six members of the group are breaking out to all-time highs, including three equipment makers – Becton, Dickinson (NYSE:BDX), St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) and Zimmer Holdings (NYSE:ZMH) -- managed-care heavyweight UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), life-sciences giant Thermo Fisher (NYSE:TMO) and pharmaceutical firm Actavis (NYSE:ACT).

Health Care Record Highs