Top movers as S&P 500 clocks another quarter of growth
The S&P 500 rose 0.42% on Monday, achieving its fourth consecutive quarter of gains, the longest since 2021. The index closed the quarter up 6%, driven by optimism over a soft landing and Fed rate cuts. All sectors gained except energy, which fell over 2%. Utilities and Real Estate saw the largest increases, up 19% and 17%, respectively. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust also rose 5.4% in the quarter. Notable gainers included Erie Indemnity (+48.9%) and GE Vernova (+48.7%), while Super Micro Computer (-48.7%) and Moderna (-42.4%) were the biggest decliners.
The S&P 500 (SP500) edged 0.42% higher on Monday to register its fourth consecutive quarter of gains, marking its longest winning stretch since 2021.
Wall Street’s benchmark index continued to hit record highs, closing the quarter up 6% and with a more than $2.5 trillion rally. U.S. markets witnessed a broadening of the rally in Q3, thanks to optimism surrounding a soft landing, Fed rate cuts, and encouraging inflation results.
All S&P 500 sectors posted gains in the quarter, except energy (XLE), which fell over 2%. Utilities (XLU) and Real Estate (XLRE) accounted for the biggest growth, up 19% and 17%, respectively.
The index’s accompanying SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) also moved higher 5.4% in the quarter and 5.2% year-to-date. The world's largest exchange-traded fund, saw an inflow of $19.8B for the last week of September, marking the highest weekly inflow in more than 3 months.
A positive September suggests a stronger final quarter, BofA Securities said in its analysis, which noted September tends to be a weak month for the S&P 500 (SPX), especially during election years.
“The SPX had a strong September 2024 with a rally of 2.02%. When the SPX is up in September, the rest of the year has had stronger returns with the SPX up 67% of the time on an average return of 1.62% (1.54% median) in October and up 79% of the time with an average return of 5.08% (5.81% median) in 4Q. This supports SPX 6000 into year-end,” according to the analysis.
Here are the top S&P500 gainers of Q3:
- Erie Indemnity Company (ERIE) +48.9%
- GE Vernova (GEV) +48.7%
- Palantir Technologies (PLTR) +46.9%
- Mohawk Industries (MHK) +41.5%
- Builders FirstSource (BLDR) +40%
- Kellanova (K) +39.9%
- CBRE Group (CBRE) +39.7%
- Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) +37.9%
- Axon Enterprise (AXON) +35.8%
- D.R. Horton (DHI) +35.4%
Here are the top S&P500 decliners of Q3:
- Super Micro Computer (SMCI) -48.7%
- Moderna (MRNA) -42.4%
- DexCom (DXCM)-40.9%
- Dollar General (DG) -38%
- Dollar Tree (DLTR) -34.1%
- Edwards Lifesciences (EW) -28.6%
- CrowdStrike (CRWD) -26.8%
- Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) -25.9%
- Intel (INTC) -24.2%
- Lam Research (LRCX) -23.4%