MW Here are this week's 20 best-performing stocks as the S&P 500 rallied

By Philip van Doorn

All but two of the S&P 500's 11 sectors were up for the week

Believe it or not, we just completed a good week for the U.S. stock market. The S&P 500 rose 5.7% through Friday's close from a week earlier, with three-quarters of component stocks showing gains.

But investors were still flocking to gold (GC00), with continuous front-month contracts for the metal on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 7.2% for the week.

Here are the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 SPX, sorted by how well they performed for the week. Price changes are also shown for the preceding three years and from the end of 2021 through Friday.

   Sector or index           One-week price change through April 11  2025 price change  2024 price change  2023 price change  2022 price change  Price change since end of 2021 
   Information technology                                      9.7%             -15.3%              35.7%              56.4%             -28.9%                           27.8% 
   Industrials                                                 6.5%              -4.6%              15.6%              16.0%              -7.1%                           18.9% 
   Communication services                                      6.4%              -9.1%              38.9%              54.4%             -40.4%                           16.2% 
   Financials                                                  5.6%              -3.5%              28.4%               9.9%             -12.4%                           19.4% 
   Consumer discretionary                                      4.6%             -17.0%              29.1%              41.0%             -37.6%                           -5.7% 
   Materials                                                   3.6%              -3.8%              -1.8%              10.2%             -14.1%                          -10.6% 
   Consumer staples                                            3.1%               3.7%              12.0%              -2.2%              -3.2%                           10.0% 
   Utilities                                                   2.4%               0.8%              19.6%             -10.2%              -1.4%                            6.7% 
   Healthcare                                                  1.2%              -0.5%               0.9%               0.3%              -3.6%                           -2.9% 
   Real estate                                                -0.2%              -4.6%               1.7%               8.3%             -28.4%                          -24.8% 
   Energy                                                     -0.4%              -7.5%               2.3%              -4.8%              59.0%                           43.3% 
   S&P 500                                                     5.7%              -8.8%              23.3%              24.2%             -19.4%                           12.5% 
                                                                                                                                                                Source: FactSet 

All price changes in this article exclude dividends. The table shows the previous years and the gains from the end of 2021 through Friday in order to encompass the broad decline in 2022, which was followed by tremendous gains for the S&P 500 over the next two years heading into this year's decline. (You might need to scroll the table to see all of the columns.)

The information-technology sector was the week's leader with a 9.7% gain, but it was still down 15.3% for 2025. Two defensive sectors - consumer staples and utilities - ended the week with year-to-date gains.

Four sectors ended Friday at levels lower than they were at the end of 2021 - consumer discretionary, materials, healthcare and real estate.

The week's best performers among the S&P 500

Here are the 20 stocks in the U.S. large-cap benchmark index showing the largest price increases for the week through Friday:

   Company                             Ticker    One-week price change through April 11  2025 price change  2024 price change  2023 price change  2022 price change  Price change from end of 2021 through April 11 
   Newmont Corp.                       NEM                                        24.4%              47.7%             -10.1%             -12.3%             -23.9%                                          -11.4% 
   Broadcom Inc.                       AVGO                                       24.4%             -21.5%             107.7%              99.6%             -16.0%                                          173.4% 
   Constellation Energy Corp.          CEG                                        21.7%              -7.0%              91.4%              35.6%                N/A                                             N/A 
   Palantir Technologies Inc.          PLTR                                       19.6%              17.1%             340.5%             167.4%             -64.7%                                          386.3% 
   GE Vernova Inc.                     GEV                                        18.4%              -2.3%                N/A                N/A                N/A                                             N/A 
   Nvidia Corp.                        NVDA                                       17.6%             -17.4%             171.2%             238.9%             -50.3%                                          277.2% 
   CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.           CRWD                                       17.5%              10.4%              34.0%             142.5%             -48.6%                                           84.6% 
   Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc.  HII                                        16.6%              14.2%             -27.2%              12.6%              23.5%                                           15.5% 
   Humana Inc.                         HUM                                        16.3%              16.3%             -44.6%             -10.6%              10.4%                                          -36.4% 
   KLA Corp.                           KLAC                                       16.3%               6.4%               8.4%              54.2%             -12.3%                                           55.8% 
   Apollo Global Management Inc.       APO                                        15.9%             -23.8%              77.2%              46.1%             -11.9%                                           73.9% 
   Fortinet Inc.                       FTNT                                       15.4%               3.4%              61.4%              19.7%             -32.0%                                           36.0% 
   Boeing Co.                          BA                                         14.8%             -11.4%             -32.1%              36.8%              -5.4%                                          -22.1% 
   Texas Pacific Land Corp.            TPL                                        14.6%              11.8%             111.0%             -32.9%              87.7%                                          196.9% 
   Freeport-McMoRan Inc.               FCX                                        14.4%             -12.4%             -10.5%              12.0%              -8.9%                                          -20.1% 
   Dell Technologies Inc.              DELL                                       14.4%             -28.9%              50.6%              90.2%             -28.4%                                           45.9% 
   Axon Enterprise Inc.                AXON                                       14.3%              -4.4%             130.1%              55.7%               5.7%                                          261.8% 
   Lam Research Corp.                  LRCX                                       14.2%              -6.6%              -7.8%              86.4%             -41.6%                                           -6.2% 
   UnitedHealth Group Inc.             UNH                                        14.2%              18.5%              -3.9%              -0.7%               5.6%                                           19.4% 
   Applied Materials Inc.              AMAT                                       14.2%             -10.9%               0.3%              66.4%             -38.1%                                           -7.9% 
                                                                                                                                                                                                    Source: FactSet 

Gold miner Newmont $(NEM)$ was the S&P 500's best performer for the week with a 24.4% gain, and it was up 47.7% for 2025. Freeport McMoRan $(FCX)$, which also mines gold and other metals, made the list with a 14.4% gain for the week, although it ended with a 12.4% decline for 2025.

Nine companies among the week's 20 best-performing stocks were in the technology sector - but most were still down for this year, including Nvidia $(NVDA)$, which was up 17.6% for the week but ended with a 17.4% decline for 2025.

Related coverage:

-- Nvidia's stock retreats, but analysts aren't buying into tariff fears right now

-- Trump-supporting investors are doubling down on these names as tariff war rages

Weekend Reads from MarketWatch: Do you have too much of your money in the stock market?

-Philip van Doorn

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 11, 2025 17:29 ET (21:29 GMT)

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