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Visualizing the S&P 500’s Performance in 2023 So Far

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The S&P 500’s Performance in 2023 Q1

With one quarter of 2023 in the books, how has the S&P 500 performed so far?

The index had a tumultuous 2022, ending the year down 18%, its worst performance since 2008. But so far, despite dealing with tight monetary conditions and an unexpected banking crisis, the S&P 500 has promptly started to rebound.

The above animation from Jan Varsava shows the stock performance of each company on the S&P 500, categorized by sector.

Biggest Gainers on the S&P 500

The S&P 500 increased 7.5% during the first quarter of 2023. Though it was led by a few big outperformers, more than half of the stocks on the index closed above their end-of-December prices.

Here are the top 30 biggest gainers on the index from January 1 to March 31, 2023.

Rank Company 3-Month Return
1 Nvidia 90.1%
2 Meta (Facebook) 76.1%
3 Tesla 68.4%
4 Warner Bros. Discovery 59.3%
5 Align Technology 58.4%
6 AMD 51.3%
7 Salesforce 50.7%
8 West Pharmaceuticals 47.3%
9 General Electric 46.3%
10 Catalent 46.0%
11 First Solar 45.2%
12 Monolithic Power Systems 41.8%
13 MarketAxess Holdings 40.6%
14 GE Healthcare Tech 40.5%
15 Arista Networks 38.3%
16 ANSYS Inc. 37.8%
17 Fortinet Inc. 35.9%
18 Wynn Resorts 35.7%
19 Paramount Global 33.8%
20 FedEx Corp 32.7%
21 MGM Resorts 32.5%
22 Royal Caribbean Group 32.1%
23 ON Semiconductor Corp 32.0%
24 Booking Holdings 31.6%
25 Cadence Design Systems 30.8%
26 Skyworks Solutions 30.2%
27 Pulte Group 28.4%
28 Seagate Technology 27.1%
29 Apple 27.1%
30 Lam Research 26.6%

Nvidia shares gained the most of all the companies on the S&P 500 in Q1 2023, posting a staggering 90% return over three months.

As the world’s largest chipmaker by market cap, Nvidia gained from both strong earnings and semiconductor industry performance. It also benefited from the rising prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) through software like ChatGPT.

Meanwhile, other tech giants Apple and Microsoft gained 27% and 21% respectively over the same time period.

Tech Leads Returns by Sector

The technology sector as a whole was the best performing sectoral index thanks to these big moves, up 21.7% at the end of March.

Sector 3-Month Return
Technology 21.65%
Consumer Services 21.27%
Consumer Discretionary 16.60%
Materials 4.29%
Industrials 3.47%
Real Estate 1.95%
Consumer Staples 0.72%
Utilities -3.24%
Health Care -4.31%
Energy -4.37%
Financials -5.56%
S&P 500 7.5%

Shares of other tech-adjacent companies like Meta (formerly Facebook) and Tesla—listed on the S&P 500 under the categories of communication services and consumer discretionary—also had a strong start to the year and lifted their respective sectors.

Meta in particular is up 76% in Q1 2023, continuing its rebound after falling to an eight-year low in November 2022 on the back of better-than-expected fourth quarter results and share buybacks.

Biggest Losers on the S&P 500

On the other side of the S&P 500, the financial sector was rocked by sudden collapses.

Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Financial Group shares lost the most ground in the first quarter, after both banks collapsed, shedding nearly all of their value in a matter of 30 days.

In fact, seven of the 10 worst performers on the index to start 2023 are banks or financial companies. The visualization shows the ripple effect on the market after the collapse of regional banks in March, and the ensuing rout driving the entire sector down 5.6% year-to-date.

Here are the top 30 biggest losers on the index from January 1 to March 31, 2023.

Rank Company 3-Month Return
1 Signature Bank -99.8%
2 Silicon Valley Financial Group -99.6%
3 First Republic Bank -88.5%
4 Lumen Technologies -49.2%
5 Zions Bancorporation -38.6%
6 Charles Schwab Corp -36.9%
7 Comerica Incorporated -33.9%
8 DISH Network -33.5%
9 KeyCorp -27.3%
10 Lincoln National Corp -25.8%
11 Centene Corporation -22.9%
12 Cigna Group -22.5%
13 APA Corporation -22.3%
14 Citizens Financial Group -22.1%
15 Enphase Energy Inc. -20.6%
16 Baxter International Inc. -19.9%
17 Truist Financial Corporation -19.9%
18 American International Group -19.8%
19 CVS Health Corporation -19.7%
20 Pfizer -19.6%
21 Gen Digital -19.5%
22 MetLife -19.4%
23 Huntington Bancshares -19.4%
24 Fidelity National -19.3%
25 Halliburton Company -19.2%
26 Molina Healthcare -19.0%
27 PNC Financial Services -18.8%
28 Boston Properties -18.4%
29 Fifth Third Bancorp -17.8%
30 Allstate Corporation -17.7%

Despite the tight monetary landscape, traditionally defensive sectors like energy, consumer staples, and healthcare also underperformed the broader index. This is a reversal from market trends seen in 2022.

Investment Trends to Watch for in 2023

Experts predict a pause in U.S. interest rate hikes “sometime in 2023” but it’s unclear when (or at what level) the pause will take place given persistent inflation in the economy.

However, if interest rates level off in 2023, it could be a key momentum maker for the S&P 500. As Barron’s points out, the index tends to rise after hikes are paused.

Meanwhile, the current tumult in the financial sector is fanning the flames of recessionary fears. How effectively regulators manage the crisis might be the story of the year.

Finally, as we have seen in 2023 so far, investor interest in AI has sent tech stocks soaring. Is this a quick fad, or an overarching trend for the year?

Curious about what started the upheaval in the financial sector? Check out Timeline: The Shocking Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank for the backstory.

The post Visualizing the S&P 500’s Performance in 2023 So Far appeared first on Visual Capitalist.