Worksheet – Case 6 – Create a category chart using Scalar

Finding Data

To find sectoral returns of the S&P 500, you can use the Country & Region database. Navigate to

Country & Region > United States > Equity Indices > S&P > 500 > Industry Classification category.

Adjust the slider to show only level 1 of, that way you only have to look through the main sectors of the S&P 500. Select all series and add them to a document.

Analysis

Scalar

Scalar produces category series, so the output can’t be displayed using a time chart. Instead, in the analysis tree you need to highlight “series list” and click on the add button to select the scalar analysis.

Once you’ve done that, look for the “Calculations” setting. Select “Year to Date” as the calculation. Do not set a point in time.

The settings for Output series should be set to “one series per calculation”.

Under Value labels you can specify the name of the categories created for the series. These labels  will appear on the X-axis of the category chart.

Sorting

Since the example chart displays the sectors in ascending order, you will have to add the Sorting analysis after Scalar to specify the direction of the series.

Lastly  click on add and select “Category chart” to visualize the output.

Charting

Graph Layout

By default, the category series is displayed as a line. In this case you need to change this to Column in Graph Layout.

Horizontal line at 0

To add the horizontal line, go to the Chart annotations tab. Select “horizontal line” and place it in the chart. The exact position is not important, as you can set it manually in the Presentation Properties tab. There, set the Position to 0 and tick the ‘Foreground’ setting to make it appears above the columns.

Column Width

You’ll notice than in the example chart the column width is narrower than what you currently have. To access these settings, click once on any of the columns displayed and look up at the Presentation Properties tab. You will see two options for the margin settings: Margin and Group Margin. Margin adjusts all columns that are within the same category, while Group margin sets the margin between each category. Since there is one column per category, you will use the Group Margin setting and set it to 40%.