The S&P 500 was up 23.8% in 2024 through Dec. 30, 2024, on top of a stellar 24.2% rise in 2023, MarketWatch reports.
However, the benchmark index fell 19.4% in 2021, tempering the S&P 500's past three-year return to 23.9%.
Within the S&P 500, the best-performing sector of 2024 was communication services, up 39.9%, followed by information technology, which surged 37.1%.
Consumer discretionary turned in the third-best performance of 2024, coming in at 30.4%, closely followed by financials, rising by 28.3%. Utilities were the fifth best-performing subsector of the S&P 500, delivering returns of 19.7%.
Looking at the 15 best-performing stocks of 2024, it is clear that technology and AI won out again.
Individual stocks returned eye-popping returns reminiscent of the dot-com bubble. Patantir Technologies was up 349.5%. Vistra Corp. skyrocketed 263.7%, and AI darling Nvidia returned a staggering 177.6%. (See chart.)
