The Blue Chip S&P 500 index clocked fresh record highs on the last day of 2020 up 24 points or 0.6% to 3756 with the SPX up 16% for the year. Vaccine optimism, prospects of further fiscal stimulus fueled by easy money and no fear fueled the speculation.
The Blue Chip S&P 500 index clocked fresh record highs on the last day of 2020 up 24 points or 0.6% to 3756 with the SPX up 16% for the year. Vaccine optimism, prospects of further fiscal stimulus fueled by easy money and no fear fueled the speculation.
American stocks recovered to record highs after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and trade uncertainty.
Risk takers pushed the Standard & Powers 500 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 S&P 500 rose 3.7% for December and 16% 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 record highs.
Probably the best example of the fervent speculation despite the economic shutdowns and over 20 million unemployed in the US was shares of Tesla added to the benchmark S&P index on December 21 rising an astounding 743% on the year.
S&P 500 biggest winners of 2020 included:
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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