You could call this the year of the mood swing for the U.S. stock market.
Investors went from being “certain” that the Federal Reserve would continue raising interest rates, which helped cause a sharp decline in stock prices in the fourth quarter, to being surprised by a turnaround in Fed policy in March, when the Federal Open Market Committee decided to halt the rate increases and curb the central bank’s balance-sheet runoff. Last week the language of the Fed’s customary policy statement softened further, helping to push the S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.34% to record levels.
The Fed’s about-face helped push the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes TMUBMUSD10Y, +0.72% down to 2.01% on June 27 from 2.69% at the end of 2018.
Here’s how four broad stock indexes performed during the first half of 2019 (through June 27), in the fourth quarter and all of last year:
| Index | Ticker | Total return - 2019 through June 27 | Total return - fourth quarter, 2019 | Total return - 2018 |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | DJIA, +0.22% | 13.7% | -11.8% | -5.6% |
| S&P 500 | SPX, +0.34% | 16.7% | -14.0% | -6.2% |
| Nasdaq Composite Index | COMP, +0.23% | 20.7% | -17.3% | -2.8% |
| Nasdaq-100 Index | NDX, +0.10% | 21.6% | -16.8% | 0.0% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Here are total returns for the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 over the same periods:
| S&P 500 sector | 2019 through June 27 | Fourth quarter, 2018 | 2018 |
| Information Technology | 26.9% | 4.9% | -0.3% |
| Consumer Discretionary | 21.5% | 1.6% | 0.8% |
| Industrials | 20.2% | -0.6% | -13.3% |
| Real Estate | 20.0% | 15.4% | -2.2% |
| Communications Services | 18.2% | 2.6% | -12.5% |
| Materials | 16.2% | 1.9% | -14.7% |
| Consumer Staples | 16.1% | 10.0% | -8.4% |
| Financials | 15.6% | 0.5% | -13.0% |
| Utilities | 14.1% | 15.7% | 4.1% |
| Energy | 11.8% | -14.8% | -18.1% |
| Health Care | 7.7% | -1.7% | 6.5% |
| Source: FactSet | |||
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Here’s how 29 of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.22% performed (with dividends reinvested), leaving out Dow Inc. DOW, +0.31% which began trading separately in April after it was spun-off from DowDuPont:
| Company | Ticker | Total return - 2019 | Total return - fourth quarter, 2018 | Total return - 2018 |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT, -0.28% | 33% | -11% | 21% |
| American Express Co. | AXP, +0.42% | 31% | -10% | -3% |
| Cisco Systems Inc. | CSCO, +0.02% | 30% | -10% | 17% |
| Visa Inc. Class A | V, -0.07% | 30% | -12% | 16% |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL, -0.58% | 28% | -30% | -5% |
| Walt Disney Co. | DIS, -0.40% | 27% | -5% | 4% |
| Travelers Companies Inc. | TRV, +0.17% | 26% | -7% | -10% |
| International Business Machines Corp. | IBM, -0.08% | 25% | -24% | -23% |
| United Technologies Corp. | UTX, -0.31% | 23% | -23% | -15% |
| Home Depot Inc. | HD, +0.80% | 22% | -17% | -7% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG, +0.72% | 21% | 11% | 4% |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | GS, +2.99% | 20% | -25% | -34% |
| Walmart Inc. | WMT, +0.63% | 19% | 0% | -3% |
| McDonald's Corp. | MCD, +0.24% | 18% | 7% | 6% |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX, +0.76% | 15% | -10% | -10% |
| Boeing Co. | BA, -0.29% | 14% | -13% | 12% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. | XOM, +0.33% | 14% | -19% | -15% |
| Nike Inc. Class B | NKE, +0.57% | 13% | -12% | 20% |
| J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. | JPM, +3.19% | 13% | -13% | -7% |
| Merck & Co. Inc. | MRK, +0.17% | 11% | 8% | 40% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ, -0.48% | 10% | -6% | -5% |
| Coca-Cola Co. | KO, +0.06% | 10% | 3% | 7% |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT, +1.08% | 8% | -16% | -18% |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | VZ, +0.06% | 4% | 6% | 11% |
| Intel Corp. | INTC, +1.56% | 2% | 0% | 4% |
| Pfizer Inc. | PFE, +0.02% | 1% | 0% | 25% |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. | UNH, -2.44% | 0% | -6% | 15% |
| 3M Co. | MMM, +0.90% | -9% | -9% | -17% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | WBA, -0.61% | -19% | -6% | -4% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
You can click on the tickers for more about each company, including full news coverage, profiles, charts, estimates, financials and ratings.
S&P 500 — winners and losers
Here are the 10 S&P 500 stocks that performed the best in the same time periods:
| Company | Ticker | Total return - 2019 | Total return - fourth quarter, 2018 | Total return - 2018 |
| Coty Inc. Class A | COTY, +0.84% | 105% | -47% | -66% |
| Xerox Corp. | XRX, +0.11% | 81% | -26% | -29% |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. | CMG, -0.40% | 68% | -5% | 49% |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc. | AMD, +0.23% | 67% | -40% | 80% |
| Anadarko Petroleum Corp. | APC, +0.30% | 63% | -35% | -17% |
| Cadence Design Systems Inc. | CDNS, +0.43% | 61% | -4% | 4% |
| Hess Corp. | HES, +0.45% | 60% | -43% | -13% |
| MSCI Inc. Class A | MSCI, +0.98% | 60% | -17% | 18% |
| Total System Services Inc. | TSS, +0.10% | 58% | -18% | 3% |
| Dentsply Sirona Inc. | XRAY, -0.24% | 55% | -1% | -43% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Here are the worst-performing S&P 500 stocks:
| Company | Ticker | Total return - 2019 | Total return - fourth quarter, 2018 | Total return - 2018 |
| Nordstrom Inc. | JWN, +1.11% | -31% | -22% | 1% |
| Mylan N.V. | MYL, +0.47% | -31% | -25% | -35% |
| Gap Inc. | GPS, +0.99% | -30% | -10% | -22% |
| Kohl's Corp. | KSS, +0.66% | -28% | -10% | 27% |
| Kraft Heinz Co. | KHC, +0.23% | -27% | -21% | -42% |
| Macy's Inc | M, +0.65% | -25% | -13% | 24% |
| AbbVie Inc. | ABBV, +1.61% | -22% | -1% | -1% |
| Foot Locker Inc. | FL, +1.81% | -22% | 5% | 17% |
| ABiomed Inc. | ABMD, +0.00% | -22% | -28% | 73% |
| Kroger Co. | KR, +1.08% | -21% | -5% | 2% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Nasdaq-100 — winners and losers
Here are the 10 best performers among components of the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX, +0.10% :
| Company | Ticker | Total return - 2019 | Total return - fourth quarter, 2018 | Total Return - 2018 |
| MercadoLibre Inc. | MELI, -0.61% | 109% | -14% | -7% |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc. | AMD, +0.23% | 67% | -40% | 80% |
| Cadence Design Systems Inc. | CDNS, +0.43% | 61% | -4% | 4% |
| Synopsys Inc. | SNPS, +0.21% | 49% | -15% | -1% |
| Lululemon Athletica Inc | LULU, -0.19% | 48% | -25% | 55% |
| Idexx Laboratories Inc. | IDXX, +0.04% | 46% | -25% | 19% |
| JD.com Inc. ADR Class A | JD, -0.20% | 45% | -20% | -49% |
| Facebook Inc. Class A | FB, +0.51% | 45% | -20% | -26% |
| Celgene Corp. | CELG, +0.10% | 44% | -28% | -39% |
| eBay Inc. | EBAY, +0.66% | 41% | -15% | -26% |
| Source: Factet | ||||
And here are the worst 10 performers in the Nasdaq-100:
| Company | Ticker | Total return - 2019 | Total return - fourth quarter, 2018 | Total return - 2018 |
| Tesla Inc | TSLA, +0.15% | -33% | 26% | 7% |
| Mylan N.V. | MYL, +0.47% | -31% | -25% | -35% |
| Baidu Inc. ADR Class A | BIDU, +0.16% | -27% | -31% | -32% |
| Kraft Heinz Co. | KHC, +0.23% | -27% | -21% | -42% |
| Biogen Inc. | BIIB, -1.79% | -20% | -15% | -6% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | WBA, -0.61% | -19% | -6% | -4% |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. | REGN, +0.47% | -17% | -8% | -1% |
| Citrix Systems Inc. | CTXS, +0.15% | -4% | -8% | 17% |
| Amgen Inc. | AMGN, +0.15% | -4% | -5% | 15% |
| J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. | JBHT, +1.18% | -3% | -22% | -18% |
| Sirius XM Holdings Inc. | SIRI, +0.18% | -2% | -9% | 7% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
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