Shares of retailers, restaurant chains and other companies that depend on discretionary consumer spending jumped 231 percent since the bottom to lead gains in the S&P 500. Gauges of financial companies and industrial shares have almost tripled, while technology, commodity and health-care stocks are up more than 100 percent.

Wyndham Worldwide Corp., CBS Corp., Fifth Third Bancorp and Gannett Co. are among seven companies in the index that have surged more than 1,000 percent since March 9, 2009.

Stocks rebounded as the Federal Reserve pumped more than $2.3 trillion into the economy through monetary easing since 2008, sending Treasury rates to record lows last year. The S&P 500’s dividend yield, currently at about 2.11 percent, has been above the payout on 10-year Treasuries for almost a year.

Corporate profits have jumped to a record during the rebound, with earnings for S&P 500 companies surging to $100.75 a share last year from $61.83 in 2009.

‘Fundamental Improvement’

“The market is reflecting fundamental improvement, earnings growth, revenue growth and dividend growth, more than it is price momentum,” Richard Slinn, a San Francisco-based managing director and senior investor at JPMorgan Private Bank, which oversees $877 billion, said by phone. “People are naturally kind of hesitant to jump into something they feel like has gone too far, but we disagree with that premise.”

The S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index underperformed versus the S&P 500 during the 1990s bull market, which was dominated by rallies in larger U.S. companies and technology stocks. The S&P 100 Index, whose average company’s market cap is $92.3 billion, increased 494 percent from October 1990 to March 2000. That compared with the 417 percent advance by the S&P 500, whose average stock’s market cap is $29.4 billion.

Cisco, the world’s largest maker of computer-networking gear, led gains in the S&P 500 during the 1990s rally, surging more than 111,000 percent. Microsoft increased 6,831 percent during the same period.

Technology Investment

“The ’90s were all about investment in technology,” Kevin Caron, a Florham Park, New Jersey-based market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., which oversees about $130 billion, said by phone. “The earnings improvement you’re seeing here is coming from a myriad of places.”