The stock market indexes have enjoyed record highs in recent years with the S&P 500 outperforming other years with President Joe Biden leading the country for the last nearly four years.
Not all stocks went up with Biden in office and investors may want to take a look back at the worst performing stocks of 2021 to prepare themselves for what could be ahead with the 2024 election nearing.
What Happened: Biden stepped down from the 2024 presidential election earlier this year. While the current president won’t be re-elected to the White House, past performance with a Democrat as president could highlight which stocks and sectors could be winners if Kamala Harris is victorious in Tuesday’s election.
The S&P 500, which is tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, was up 26.9% in 2021. This marked the best yearly performance since 2018 and the second-best performance for the key stock market index in the last 11 years.
The 12 months following Election Day 2020, which was won by Biden, saw the S&P 500 gain 37.4%. This was the best one-year market return under a president in many years.
While many stocks were up in 2021, not all of the publicly traded companies had positive returns on the year.
Here were the 10 best-performing S&P 500 stocks in 2021, according to a report from StatMuse, and their sectors.
- Las Vegas Sands LVS: -37.1%, consumer discretionary/casinos
- Global Payments GPN: -36.8%, financials
- Market Axess (NASDAQ::MKTX): -28.1%, financials
- Viatris VTRS: -25.8%, health care
- Wynn Resorts WYNN: -24.8%, consumer discretionary/casinos
- Warner Bros. Discovery WBD: -24.4%, media/entertainment
- Palantir Technologies PLTR: -23.8%, technology
- Fidelity National Information Services FIS: financials
- PayPal PYPL: -20.7%, financials
- Erie Indemnity ERIE: -20.3%, insurance
The results above show that financials was an underperforming sector in 2021 and also includes several casino stocks on the list. Peak at the top 10 best performing S&P 500 stocks here.
Did You Know?
- Congress Is Making Huge Investments. Get Tips On What They Bought And Sold Ahead Of The 2024 Election With Our Easy-to-Use Tool
Why It’s Important: Click through to see the 10 best and 10 worst-performing S&P 500 stocks of 2017, Donald Trump‘s first year in the White House.
What's interesting for investors could be the correlation for some stocks based on who was in the White House.
Wynn Resorts was the fourth best performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2017 under Trump, but was an underperformer in 2021 under Biden. PayPal was the eighth best performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2017, but was an underperformer in 2021.
The results above could show that financials and casino stocks could be underperformers if Harris wins the presidency based on the past results and Democratic Party leadership.
With less than one week until the 2024 election, investors are likely positioning their portfolio based on a Trump or Harris victory in some regards. With a close election predicted, investors may want to look to sectors that could benefit under either candidate.
Freedom Capital Markets Chief Global Strategist Jay Woods previously shared some sectors and stocks to watch with Benzinga that could benefit regardless of whether Trump or Harris wins the 2024 election.
Woods named defense stocks and cybersecurity stocks as two of the top sectors to watch ahead of the 2024 election.
"I think you've got to watch this sector closely," Woods said of the defense sector.
Woods added that defense stocks could continue to benefit from geopolitical concerns and the world’s many adverse events.
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© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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