It was a topy-turvy begin to 2025 for the stock market. Since the club's monthly meeting in December, Wall Street has been covered in headlines which have sent stocks lower, then lower, then higher. The S&P 500 ended 2024 with a gain of around 23%, even though it fell in the ultimate 4 sessions of the 12 months and on the primary trading day of 2025. When the Santa Claus rally rebounded on January 3, it stalled. After losing ground in the primary two weeks of 2025, the last nearly two weeks have been stronger, with the S&P 500 hitting an all-time high on Wednesday. However, the index didn’t finish above its Dec. 6 close of just over 6,090. From the monthly meeting on December 19 through Wednesday's close, the S&P 500 rose 3.7%. The Dow and technical Nasdaq rose 4.2% and three.2%, respectively, over the identical period. Our top performers during this stretch were Coterra Energy, Nextracker, Goldman Sachs, GE Healthcare and Wells Fargo. Here's how the winners fared over the past 33 days and what added to the gains in each. 1. Coterra Energy has been rising because the starting of the 12 months because of the strength of the energy sector. The rise in West Texas Intermediate crude and natural gas prices has sent the oil and gas exploration and production company higher. Ahead of January's monthly meeting at noon on Thursday and Coterra's advance, the stock has risen to the twenty sixth spot in 2025, making it the top-performing sector within the S&P 500 12 months over 12 months. After a breakeven in 2024, we didn’t need to reverse the recent rally. So we cut Coterra on Tuesday and saw a 1% gain on shares purchased in April 2022. President Donald Trump desires to pave the best way for deregulation to extend American energy production. 2. NexTracker up 21.7% Most of the solar stock's gains were concentrated in the beginning of 2025 – extending last 12 months's decline from the previous 12 months. It's not entirely clear what sent Nextracker shares higher earlier this month. We previously speculated that the rebound might be linked to investors selling shares after selling for tax-loss harvesting in late December, driving the stock artificially low. Later, Mizuho analysts called NexTracker shares a “top pick” in its outlook for the Clean Energy and Renewables sector while increasing its price goal on shares. Afterwards, then-President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring more infrastructure needed for generative AI, including latest clean power facilities. Both contributed to the stock's run. We made two sales of NexTracker at recent gains because the December meeting. Shares of NexTracker were lower on Thursday, extending a three-session loss. 3. Goldman Sachs 14.2% Bank stocks had two big catalysts last month. First, the stocks have acted as a part of the Trump trade. Investors appear optimistic that one other 4 years of Trump in office could lead on to a pickup in Wall Street dealmaking Goldman Sachs also rose on its quarterly results on January 15. The firm “once again ended the year as the No. 1 M&A advisor in the markets,” CEO David Solomon said within the post-earnings conference call. For the club, this was a transparent reminder of why we began buying Goldman in the primary place on December sixteenth. As a part of increase our Goldman position, we exited banking competitor Morgan Stanley. Goldman received a big selection of praise from Wall Street analysts after earnings, which has helped it maintain its gains since then. V. Jefferies upgraded the stock to a buy hold in early January, citing future catalysts reminiscent of a China stimulus push, suggesting orders could are available after the Chinese New Year. Analysts like GEHC's valuation after shares pulled back in late September through the top of 2024. GE Healthcare also announced a significant partnership with Sutter Health to make its medical imaging technology AI-powered. Media reports indicated that this might generate $1 billion in revenue for the corporate. 5. Wells Fargo at 12.6% like Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo received the Trump trade. For Wells, this might finally mean removing the $1.95 trillion asset limit that the Fed imposed in 2018 following the bank's fake account scandal. Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf has been cleansing things up since taking the helm in 2019. Jim Cramer believes the progress Scharf has made needs to be rewarded. Removing the asset limit would allow the bank to expand key businesses, particularly its growing investment banking operations. This, together with a stellar earnings report on January 15, led to Wells Fargo rounding out the list of performers. (See an entire list of stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust here.) 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It was a topy-turvy begin to 2025 for the stock market. Since the club's monthly meeting in December, Wall Street has been covered in headlines which have sent stocks lower, then lower, then higher.
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