top line
The broad rebound in stocks through the first seven weeks of the year was fueled by some of last year’s black sheep, including Tesla, the always-volatile electric vehicle company headed by America’s second richest man, Elon Musk.
Important facts
Tesla is the best-performing stock on the S&P 500 year-to-date, up 69%, while the other five S&P best-performing stocks include streamer Warner Bros. Discovery (up 63%) and biotechnology company Catalent (59%). are. , orthodontics company Align Technology (50%) and cruise ship Royal Caribbean (48%), according to FactSet data.
While they’re cross-industry, all of these companies have one thing in common: They were among the worst-performing stocks of 2022, each losing 35% or more over the past year.
Other notable gainers this year include fellow streamers Paramount (40%) and Disney (21%), Silicon Valley tech giants Nvidia (46%) and Meta (44%), and other leisure travel stocks like Norwegian Cruise Line (44%). ) and Caesar’s Entertainment (27%).
The S&P’s biggest losers are also a diverse group, led by telecom company Lumen Technologies (-25%), followed by solar energy company Enphase Energy (-23%), specialist healthcare provider Baxter International (-20%), energy company APA Corp (- 18%) and pharmaceutical and healthcare giant Pfizer (-15%).
Pfizer’s decline, by far the worst-performing stock of 2023 with a market cap above $100 billion, comes after the company announced that sales for its Covid-19 vaccine and oral treatment in the year It would decline 60% in 2023 and spark a rush for several big pharmas, with peers Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly down 9% and 10% year-to-date, respectively.
key background
The S&P 500 is up 6.7% year-to-date after falling 18% in 2022, its worst annual performance since 2008. The slump followed closely as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates from around 0% to over 4% to stem inflation brake . In addition to Meta, other mega-cap tech stocks have also risen dramatically this year, with Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft each up 6% or more.
tangent
Also on the rise in 2023 is Bitcoin, which is up almost 50% year-to-date to around $25,000, an eight-month high. Oanda analyst Craig Erlam warned Monday that investors need to be wary of the cryptocurrency’s recent rally, stating, “We’ve all seen what happens when there is enthusiasm and euphoria in cryptos,” referring to it on Bitcoin’s dramatic 75% plunge between November 2021 and November 2022.
Surprising fact
US military contractors Northrop Grumman is the sixth worst-performing S&P constituent year-to-date, despite a recent rally for it and other defense stocks as geopolitical tensions simmered.
Big number
$61.3 billion. That’s how much Musk has accumulated so far this year during Tesla’s rally, roughly the size of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s total net worth. Musk, who lost his position as the world’s richest person in December, is $15 billion away from regaining the title from LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault.
Continue reading
Here’s How Tesla’s 69% Plunge in 2022 Compares to Other Plunging Stocksforbes)
How much will the Fed raise interest rates? Goldman, BoA hike forecasts after hot inflation data (forbes)
The stock market just made ‘the same mistake again’ – that’s why pundits are worried about the recent rally (forbes)
follow me Twitter. Send me a safe tip.
