S&P 500 Up 1000 Points In A Month: 10 Stocks Boosted The ETF

It took only less than a month for the S&P 500 to cross 1000 points. In mid-December, the key U.S. index S&P 500 crossed the 3,200-mark for the first time, powered by a Santa rally. And the very index touched the 3,300-threshhold on Jan 16, helped by the tech rally, solid retail sales data, upbeat quarterly earnings as well as the signing of the phase-one U.S.-China trade deal (read: Phase-One Trade Deal to Boost These ETF Areas).

The year 2019 was extremely rewarding for Wall Street with the key equity S&P 500 gauge returning about 29%. Though the start of 2020 was not smooth for the market thanks to the rise in geopolitical tension in the Middle East, the index is up 1.8% so far. Apart from the signing of the phase-one U.S.-China and USMCA trade deals, global policy easing has been an added tailwind (read: Play 5 Long/Short ETFs to Bypass Middle East Tensions).

Though the projections for fourth-quarter U.S. economic growth have been subdued, investors probably took it as a continuation of the easy money policy by the Fed in 2020 and gave a push to the stock market. Notably, Atlanta Federal Reserve cut its fourth-quarter economic-growth estimate to below 2%. The New York Fed Staff Nowcast stood at 1.1% for the fourth quarter and 1.2% for the first quarter of 2020 as of Jan 10.

Against this backdrop, it would be intriguing to highlight the best-performing stocks of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (ASX:SPY) in the past one month that helped the index gain 1000 points.

Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) – Up 47.5%

The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is one of the world's leading independent energy companies engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids. The stock belongs to a favorable Zacks industry (placed at the top 20% of 250+ industries).

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) – Up 22.2%

The Zacks Rank #3 stock is an integrated oil and gas company, with significant exploration and production exposure. The stock comes from a favorable Zacks industry (top 16%).

Mylan N.V. (NASDAQ:MYL) – Up 16.9%

The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company is a global pharmaceutical company with a well-established generics business as well as presence in specialty pharmaceuticals. The stock hails from a favorable Zacks industry (top 44%).

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) – Up 16.3%

It is a premier specialty chemicals company with leading positions in attractive end markets globally. The stock has a Zacks Rank #3.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:LYV) – Up 16.0%

The Zacks Rank #2 is the world's premier live entertainment company, consisting of Live Nation, Ticketmaster and Front-Line Management Group.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) ) –Up 14.76%

The Zacks Rank #3 company provides microprocessors (x86-based), chipsets, discrete graphics processing units (GPUs) and professional graphics. The stock belongs to a favorable Zacks industry (top 14%).

IDEXX Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) – Up 13.9%

The Zacks Rank #3 company is a developer, manufacturer and distributer of products and services primarily for the companion animal veterinary, livestock and poultry, water testing and dairy markets.

McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) – Up 12.4%

It is a health care services and information technology company. It has a Zacks Rank #2 and hails from a favorable Zacks industry (top 43%).

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) – Up 12.3%

The Zacks Rank #3 global security company supplies a broad array of products and services to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), including electronic systems, information technology, aircraft, space technology and systems integration services. The stock comes from a favorable Zacks industry (top 44%).

salesforce.com inc. (NYSE:CRM) – Up 12.1%

It is the leading provider of on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. It has a Zacks Rank #3. It comes from a favorable Zacks industry (top 35%).

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