While financial markets have been tumbling since the beginning of 2022, conditions are starting to proceed towards stability amid a better-than-expected Q2 earnings report. Despite the long-seated recession fears due to geopolitical turmoil and high inflation, the bears are showing signs of backing off with major stocks turning upwards recently. Many technology stocks are also soaring after a long slump, and shares primarily leading the bullish bandwagon belong to the oil & gas and healthcare sectors.
Here is a brief breakdown of the winners and losers in this season so far:
The best performers of 2022 so far
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is a US-based energy exploration company, standing among the best performers of 2022 with a YTD return of nearly 112%. As the corporation deals with acquiring and discovering petroleum properties, it has benefited from rising gas & oil prices as well as the attention of the famous investor, Warren Buffet.
Constellation Energy Corp (CEG), a provider of energy-related products and services, is another leading performer this year, manifesting a current year-to-date return of 95%. Consol Energy Inc. (CEIX) is also an energy-sphere winning stock this year, showing gains of a whopping 194% since the commencement of 2022.
Further, Lantheus Holdings (a healthcare sector’s imaging technology company), Scorpio tankers (a tanker shipping company for transportation of petroleum products), and Enphase Energy Inc (an energy management company) are also some prominent stocks that gained from the prevailing conditions.
Scorpio Tankers (STNG) has registered more than 200% in gains YTD while Lantheus Holdings (LNTH) has displayed around 185% growth over the last eight months.
The worst performing stocks YTD
When central banks leveled up the interest rates to tame inflation a few months back, investors got rid of their holdings where technology, entertainment, and other cyclical stocks took the harshest hit. The Russia-Ukraine conflict also impacted these stocks’ valuations by disrupting supply chains and production lines.
However, even amid this gloomy outlook, there were traders who acquired potential gains by latching on to stock derivatives products. For instance, some platforms like easyMarkets offer CFD stock trading facilities, where participants can capitalize on falling markets as well, to achieve results during turbulent conditions.
Regarding entertainment stocks’ performance, Netflix Inc., a US-based video streaming and production company, stands among the worst performers of 2022, with a current YTD decline of nearly 60%. This price slump came shortly after the company reported record high gains in October last year.
Formerly known as Facebook, Meta is a social community company that has also performed poorly over the last eight months. After touching an all-time high one year back, its YTD downturn is almost 46%. Match Group Inc. is another internet technology company that has shed more than 48% since the start of 2022.
Some other notable losers of 2022 include Etsy Inc., Align Technology Inc., NVIDIA Corp, and PayPal Holdings, among several others. While other popular stocks like Tesla, Apple, and Amazon significantly depreciated in the first and second quarters of 2022, they are notably recovering and shrinking their YTD decline value.
What is next?
As mentioned at the start, the stock market climate hints of optimism as the global economy exhibits restorative signs. Investors have regained some confidence with indications of cooling inflation, good employment data, improving companies’ earnings, and dovish Fed comments. Overall, there is general ease of worries as fears of a global recession are being quelled amid positive expectations.
