Community Banks vs the S&P 500 (QABA): is it outperforming?
Over the past month, QABA has underperformed the S&P 500 by 6.7 points. Here is where that puts it in the sector rotation — updated daily.
Where QABA sits on the rotation map
Community Banks highlighted against the 11 broad S&P 500 sectors. Vertical: 1-month spread vs the S&P 500. Horizontal: the longer, time-shifted window — the methodology explains the math.
QABA vs SPY: head-to-head returns
QABA (community banks) and SPY (the S&P 500) side by side over every window Zensei tracks. The spread is the difference — positive means QABA won that window.
Data as of 2026-08-28 · computed from daily adjusted closes · how we measure
The read
Community Banks (QABA) is losing its lead. It built a 14.0-point advantage over the S&P 500 across the longer, time-shifted window, but over the past month it has slipped 6.7 points behind the market — the Cooling quadrant of the rotation map. Ranked by one-month spread, it currently stands #101 of the 115 groups Zensei tracks.
On the shorter tape, QABA's momentum is weakening: the intraday trend that carried the move is cooling across the shorter windows. QABA's relative-strength line has broken below its long-term average — the long-term outperformance trend is no longer intact. Both signals point the same direction here: the market is not rewarding this group on either horizon.
The exposure comes via First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund, whose 160 tracked holdings are led by WINTRUST FINANCIAL CORP, COMMERCE BANCSHARES INC and CENTRAL BANCOMPANY INC CLASS A. Weighted by portfolio, the fund's holdings trade at roughly 14.3× earnings and 4.9× sales. The thing to watch from here is whether this is a pause or a handoff: cooling groups sometimes reset and reclaim leadership, but a deepening one-month deficit usually means rotation has moved on.
What's inside QABA
Top 5 of 160 tracked holdings, by portfolio weight.
Community Banks vs the market — common questions
Is community banks outperforming the S&P 500?
Right now, no: over the past month QABA has underperformed the S&P 500 by 6.7 points. This page updates daily, so the answer reflects current market data rather than a dated article.
What is QABA?
QABA is First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund, the fund Zensei uses to measure the community banks group against the S&P 500 benchmark (SPY).
Which stocks are in QABA?
QABA's largest tracked positions are WINTRUST FINANCIAL CORP, COMMERCE BANCSHARES INC, CENTRAL BANCOMPANY INC CLASS A, UNITED BANKSHARES INC, HANCOCK WHITNEY CORP — 160 holdings in total. The full list, with each stock measured against the group, is part of Zensei Premium.
What quadrant is community banks in right now?
As of the latest daily data, community banks is in the Cooling quadrant — still ahead over the longer window, but behind the market over the past month. The quadrant rules are documented on the Zensei methodology page.
Related sectors
Track community banks against the whole market
Zensei Edge maps 100+ sectors and themes against the S&P 500 — with the stocks inside each one, rotation history and alerts when leadership changes hands.