What an amazing year 2019. On Friday, the markets were in and out of the green most of the day.  But in the last hour of trading, investors logged back in for one more round of cheer and started buying stocks. 

Nasdaq was the top performer in 2019, but all the major indices returned excellent results. Nasdaq and the S&P 500 had the best percentage gains since 2013.

• Nasdaq Composite +35.2% YTD
• S&P 500 +28.9% YTD
• Russell 2000 +24.0% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average +23.8% YTD

During 2019, the S&P 500 had:

• 399 stocks up 10%,
• 312 stocks up 20%,
• 222 stocks up 30%. 

All the sectors were up on the year, and only Energy was down on the day.  Technology was the best performer and energy was the worst.

 The best performing stocks in the S&P 500 include: 

But it was not rosy for all companies, the biggest S&P losers include:

Today’s Session

It’s a new year, and the markets are off to the races and nearing record highs. Once again, the Nasdaq is the top performer, up .82% on the day.

Portfolio Approach

We are adding a new position to Consumer Discretionary.