June isn’t supposed to be a good month for the S&P 500. But it was — especially for investors who chose wisely.
X
Finally, did you invest $10,000 in January and reinvest your money in the current best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 every month in 2023, including carnival (CCL) in June, you’d have $69,878 now, says Investor Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.
That’s an impressive six-month gain of nearly 600%. It’s quite an achievement considering the S&P 500 is only up 15.9% so far this year. The same $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 would be worth only $11,590 now. That’s a gain of just $1,590. June also extended a huge bounce in big tech stocks, especially any stocks related to artificial intelligence.
Investors hope June is just the beginning of the rest of a stellar year.
“In years when the S&P 500 rose sharply (10%+) in the first half, the average performance through July (Q3), and the entire second half was better than the historical norm,” Bespoke Investment Group said.
Has June Started A Strong Second Run For The S&P 500?
Hindsight is 20-20. And it’s clear that few, if any, investors could have picked the top stock in each of the past six months, because it’s not a repeatable strategy. But the staggering numbers are a reminder to investors that gains can be found in a volatile market.
The S&P 500 provided itself a tailwind in the month of June. This was a welcome change, since June isn’t usually a great month for the S&P 500, says the “Stock Trader’s Almanac.” The S&P 500 rose 5.2% in June. That’s much better than the average gain of 0.1% in June going back to 1950, by calendar. May is only the ninth best-returning month in history.
Top S&P 500 Stock for June: Carnival
Revenge travel is real. And it’s paying off handsomely for S&P 500 investors. Cruise operator Carnival ranked first in the S&P 500 during June — jumping 67.7%.
Obviously, investors are jumping ahead of the change in the company’s fundamentals. Carnival is expected to report earnings of 77 cents per share in the August quarter ended on Sept. 29. This will reverse last year’s loss of 58 cents per share. This puts the company on course to be profitable again in 2024.
And as part of the travel theme, the top S&P 500 stock in June is No. 2 Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH). In fact, four of the top 10 S&P 500 stocks of the month were travel-related. Norwegian gained 46.6%, while Delta Airlines (DAL) rose 44.7% and Royal Caribbean Cruise (RCL) added 28.1%.
Read the S&P 500 this year
The twists and turns of each month reveal just how worthwhile the S&P 500 is for investors.
The year started with a bang. Not only was the S&P 500 up 6.2% in January, some of the month’s winners rose even more. Discovery Warner Brothers (WBD) added more than 56% in just one month.
Then February came in decline. Optimism that the Fed has finally calmed inflation by raising interest rates is giving way to fear of further rate increases. Three-quarters of stocks in the S&P 500 fell in February. Catal (CTLT), a health care company, is rare for its 25.6% gain for the month.
However, the big question is whether the rally can continue after a strong June and first half. Odds are yes. Historically, July is the fourth best month of the year for the S&P 500, says The Almanac.
Bespoke notes that July has been better lately. “Over the past 10 years, the performance has been strongest with the S&P 500 averaging 3.27% gains and positive returns 90% of the time, including each of the past eight years.”
And that just sets the table for what is usually a strong second half after a good first.
“Finally, the average second-half performance for the S&P 500 after a 10%+ increase in the first half is more than double the average second-half performance for all years since 1945 (10.13% vs. 4.96%),” Bespoke said. “Based on the history of the market over the past 75 years, years that start strong tend to end strong as well.”
How to turn $10,000 into $69,878 in 6 months
| Month | Top S&P 500 stocks | Code | Monthly Equity Gain % | section | Standard & Poor’s 500% Monthly Quarterly. | beg. pal. | The cumulative value of a $10,000 investment in January is reinvested in the best stocks each month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Discovery Warner Brothers | (WBD) | 56.3% | Telecommunications Services | 6.2% | $10,000 | $15,630 |
| February | Catal | (CTLT) | 25.6 | health care | -2.3% | $15,630 | $19,631 |
| He walks | Intel | (INTC) | 28.7 | information technology | 2.0% | $19,631 | $25,265 |
| April | Mexican chipotle | (CMG) | 21.0 | Consumer Dictionary | 1.5% | $25,265 | $30,571 |
| maybe | nvidia | (NVDA) | 36.3 | information technology | 0.2% | $30,571 | $41,669 |
| June | carnival | (CCL) | 67.7 | Consumer Dictionary | 6.5% | $41,669 | $69,878 |
Sources: S&P Global Market Intelligence, IBD
“Unapologetic reader. Social media maven. Beer lover. Food fanatic. Zombie advocate. Bacon aficionado. Web practitioner.”
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/XEO2VOOGNVAG3GR2G353WZ6QKU.jpg)
More Stories
Musk visits Beijing as Chinese-made Tesla cars pass security rules
Property prices here boomed during Covid – and are now being reduced as increasing numbers of homes remain unsold
Advice about 401(k) rollovers is poised for a big change. this is the reason