In the midst of a broader decline in the stock market, some winners have emerged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Even with some signs of life for stock prices early Friday, 80% of stocks in the S&P 500 were down since the close on Feb. 27 – the day before the attack on Iran.
From the close on Feb. 27, the S&P 500 was down 2.6% early on Friday, despite being up 0.5% that morning. Nine of the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 were down from Feb. 27, with the energy sector up 2.7% and the information technology sector up 0.4%. All price changes mentioned exclude dividends.
France and Italy were reported to be negotiating with Iran for safe passage for their ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which led to a 1.2% drop in the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil to $94.52 a barrel. However, WTI was still up 41% from the settlement price of $67.02 on Feb. 27.
Among the top performers in the S&P 500 since the attack on Iran began was CF Industries Holdings, despite being down 6.7% in morning trading on Friday. Other top performers included LyondellBasell Industries, Dow Inc., CrowdStrike Holdings, Marathon Petroleum, Datadog, Valero Energy, Trade Desk, Coinbase Global, Phillips 66, Palo Alto Networks, APA, Palantir Technologies, Kroger, and Akamai Technologies.
These companies showed double-digit gains from Feb. 27 through Friday morning trading. Click on the tickers for more information about each company. Source: LSEG.
Overall, even in the face of geopolitical tensions, some stocks have managed to outperform and show resilience in the market. It will be interesting to see how these trends continue to evolve in the coming weeks.
