Summary
As we approach the end of 2024, one might suspect that institutions, hedge funds and money managers that are outperforming their benchmark might reduce their exposure to stocks and start planning for 2025. Meanwhile, Those managing money who are behind until December have little time to catch up and might be inclined to buy some of the biggest momentum stocks out there and increase their risk exposure. But December can be difficult to navigate, as what seems likely to happen doesn’t always turn out as expected. Looking for the largest S&P 500 (SPX) stocks that have performed best over the last month, we find Amazon (AMZN +11%), Tesla (TSLA +26%), Walmart (WMT +11%), JPMorgan (JPM + 13%), Visa (V +11%), UnitedHealth (UNH +8%), Oracle (ORCL +10%), Costco (COST +9%), Netflix (NFLX +16%), Bank of America (BAC + 14%), and Salesforce (CRM+18%). The market capitalization of these companies ranges between $330 billion and $3.5 trillion. The list is dominated by Consumer Discretionary and Financials, which happen to be the most popular sectors last month. The S&P 500 finished at an all-time high (ATH) on Tuesday, finishing above 6,000 after a 0.6% rise. There is no resistance to the graph.