(MONEY Magazine) – Despite a mid-month rally, all stock benchmarks suffered losses in May. Stocks in the information technology sector, down 6.9% on average, took the biggest beating and helped drag down the Nasdaq by 6.3%. After posting disappointing earnings, widely held Microsoft lost 12.1% for the month ended May 25. Meanwhile, Dow high yielder General Motors was a top performer, gaining 31.5% on news that its employee buyout offer was more popular than expected.

S&P 500 SECTOR AVERAGES

TOP-PERFORMING STOCKS

BENCHMARKS

S&P 500 RATIOS

P/E Current 17.3

DIVIDEND YIELD Current 1.94%

HIGHEST-YIELDING DOW STOCKS

MOST WIDELY HELD STOCKS

NOTES AND SOURCES: Unless otherwise noted, data as of May 25 from Lipper, New York; 877-955-4773. Index levels from Bloomberg. Bond index data from Lehman Brothers. Stock data from Thomson/Baseline. Monthly S&P 500 ratios from Standard & Poor's. Ratios are based on previous four quarters of earnings. Top-Performing Stocks are limited to companies with market capitalization of at least $500 million. Most Widely Held Stocks are ranked by largest accounts at Merrill Lynch. N.A.: Not applicable. [1] Annualized. [2] Price change only.