Sherwood News

The last time the S&P 500 dropped more than 2% was 512 days ago

US stocks have climbed steadily this year, up 19% so far

7/17/24 6:27AM

Up 20 in ‘24?

The American stock market continues to climb higher, with the S&P 500 Index now just one more little uptick away from a 20% rise for 2024 — a surge that’s been about as smooth as it can be.

The chart below shows every individual day on the US stock market since 2020: so far this year, the flagship American index has only moved more than 2% in either direction once, when it gained 2.1% back in February.

Indeed, the last time the index fell 2% (a common occurrence during the more volatile days of 2020 and 2022) was all the way back in early 2023. That was 512 days, or 351 trading sessions, ago.

Small but mighty

In recent days, the AI trade — which powered much of the gains earlier this year — has given way to a new sentiment, as investors have rewarded smaller stocks. As Luke Kawa wrote yesterday “the Russell 2000 Index gained a whopping 3.5%, its fifth straight gain of 1% or more… making it the largest five-day outperformance of small caps versus the S&P 500 on record”.

Ironically, tech stocks have been the laggards of the last few days. But, everything’s relative: technology is still the best performing sector of the year so far (+25% in 2024).

Luke Kawa

Oil spikes, equity futures retreat as President Trump commits to hitting Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks

The ongoing war threatens to bring about an even more pronounced disruption to energy supplies, with negative ramifications for economic activity and financial markets.

President Trump Addresses The Nation On The Conflict In Iran

Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks continue to climb on hopes of an end to the war

Stocks rallied and oil fell as traders digested comments from President Trump.

Going

Stag?

Matt Phillips9h

Rani Molla12h

SpaceX reportedly files confidentially for IPO

SpaceX confidentially filed its draft IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter, the next step toward what is expected to be a blockbuster summer listing.

Elon Musk’s satellite and rocket company could raise around $75 billion in an IPO that would value it at more than $1.75 trillion — both records — though the exact amounts won’t be settled until it goes public, likely in June.

Another notable thing about this IPO: the portion of shares committed to individual investors is expected to be much higher than in traditional IPOs — per Reuters, up to 30%, versus the typical 10% — a move that could broaden retail participation in one of the most anticipated public offerings ever.

SpaceX Has Filed Confidentially for IPO Ahead of AI Rivals

Elon Musk’s SpaceX to Combine with xAI Ahead of Mega IPO

Matt Phillips12h

Energy stocks tumble after massive March

Energy and chemical stocks tumbled early Wednesday on growing expectations that the US participation in the Iran war is nearing an end, and West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures slipped back below $100 a barrel.

LyondellBasell, APA Corporation, Dow, Inc., CF Industries, and Marathon Petroleum — the S&P 500’s top 5 gainers last month — all sank.

Natural gas drillers EOG Resources, Devon Energy, Coterra Energy, and Diamondback Energy dropped, as did integrated oil giants Exxon and Chevron. Fuel refiners and marketers such as Phillips 66 and Valero also fell.

Don’t shed too many tears for these energy giants; the S&P 500 energy sector rose 10% in March and 37% in Q1 2026.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund is coming off its second-best quarter on record relative to the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, based on data going back to 1999.