The Blue Chip Dow Jones Index closed at record highs on the last day of 2020 up 7.1% on the year, as massive Fed and fiscal stimulus coupled with vaccine optimism and the prospects of further fiscal stimulus in the US fueled no fear risk taking on steroids. The Dow was down over -36% at the March low
The Blue Chip Dow Jones Index closed at record highs on the last day of 2020 up 7.1% on the year, as massive Fed and fiscal stimulus coupled with vaccine optimism and the prospects of further fiscal stimulus in the US fueled no fear risk taking on steroids. The Dow was down over -36% at the March low
American stocks recovered to record highs after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and trade uncertainty.
Risk takers pushed the Dow Jones index to fresh all times highs on the last day of 2020 as vaccine optimism and the prospects of further fiscal stimulus in the US fueled the mood. The Dow Jones rose 197 points or 0.7% to 30,607 on the day of the year,during the month, the Dow Jones added 3.3% and 7.1% for the year after bottoming out in late March, massive action by the Fed and fiscal stimulus nudged stocks dramatically to close the year with records. highs.
The Dow was a late starter to positive territory after spending most of the year in the red. It wasn’t until the break on November 9th, that the index went positive and stayed above the closing level from 2019 at 28538.44.
DJIA 30 biggest winners of 2020 included:
- Apple, +80.75%
- Microsoft, +41.04%
- Nike, +39.64%
- Salesforce, +36.82%
- Walt Disney, +25.27%
- Home Depot, +21.63%
- Walmart, +21.3%
- Honeywell, +20.17%
DJIA 30 biggest losers of 2020 included:
- Boeing, -34.29%
- Walgreens, -32.36%
- Chevron, -29.92%
- Intel, -16.76%
- Bank of America, -13.94%
- Merck, -10.06%
- J.P. Morgan, -8.85%
- Cisco, -6.69%
Note three changes were made to the 30-stock index on Aug: 31:
- Salesforce.com Inc. CRM was added, replacing Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM
- Honewell International Inc. HON replaced Raytheon Technologies Corp. RTX,
- Amgen Inc. AMGN replaced Pfizer Inc. PFE
30 current components of the Dow performance in 2020
How Global Indices fared in 2020
- In the U.S. the S&P 500 and Dow closed at record levels at the year end.
- The tech heavy Nasdaq led the charge in 2020 up 43.64%, the largest gain since 2009
- S&P was up 16.26%. Since 2010 the S&P is up 240%, though 57% of the gain in the S&P was from just three stocks Microsoft, Amazon and Apple
- The Dow is closed up 7.25% after being down most tof the year, the DJIA was down over -36% at the March low
- In Europe the best performer was the German DAX which rose +3.6% for the year.
- Spain’s IBEX 30 was an even worse performer than the FTSE 100 down -15.5%.
- Italy’s MIB fell -5.4%,
- The French CAC 40 fell -7.1%
- The British FTSE 100 dumped. -14.3%
- The Australian ASX 200 Stock Market Closed Down 1.5% in 2020
- Japan’s Nikkei gained 16%,
- China’s Shanghai composite rose ripped 14% during 2020.
The euro however rallied against the US dollar as massive US QE weakened the dollar and relief that the UK-EU free trade deal had been agreed boosted the euro. The stronger euro helepd attract overseas investors to the US stock market.
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