Best performing stocks and stock markets of 2020 – which was up 2500%?

Written by Adam Fayed | Jan 2, 2021 3:29:27 AM

2020 was a crazy year for stock markets. It wasn’t necessarily a bad year though.

In this article I will discuss some of the best, and worst, performers of the year:

Best performing stock market indexes

  1. Nasdaq – +43.6%
  2. Korean Kospi – 37.9%
  3. OMX Copenhagen Index – 32.54%
  4. The Taiwan Stock Exchange – 30.26%
  5. Shanghai Composite – 27.33%
  6. OMX Stockholm 30 (Sweden) – 24.42%
  7. AEX Index Amsterdam – 20.57%

Stock markets in Finland (+20.52%), the US (+17.22%), Ireland (+15.37%) and New Zealand (+15%) also did well.

On average then, South Korean stock markets did better than others, even though the Nasdaq as an index outperformed.

Worst stock market performers in 2020

The worst performing stocks markets were:

  1. Brazil (-21.15%)
  2. Colombia (–20.94%)
  3. Egypt (–19.90%)
  4. Hungary (-19.10%)
  5. Peru (-17.84%)
  6. Turkey (-15.85%)
  7. Russia (-15.28%)
  8. Chile (-11.54%)
  9. UK (-10.90%)
  10. Greece (-10.87%)

What is interesting about the tables is that many previously poorly performing stock markets in China, Taiwan and Mainland Europe had a great year.

As I have mentioned before in relation to the UK and Japan, it is a mistake to look at recent performance.

Best performing stocks on the Dow (to the nearest percentage)

  1. Apple. +82%
  2. Microsoft. +42%
  3. Nike. +41%
  4. Salesforce. +37%
  5. Caterpillar. +27%

Worst performing (to the nearest percentage)

  1. Boeing. -34%
  2. Walgreens Boots. -29%
  3. Chevron. -26%
  4. Intel. -15%
  5. Jp Morgan. -5.5%

Best performing stocks on the S&P500 (to the nearest percentage)

  1. Tesla. +743%
  2. ETSY. +302%
  3. Nvidia – +122%
  4. PayPal – +117%
  5. L Brands +106%

Worst performing (to the nearest percentage)

  1. Occidental Petroleum Corporation  – 58%
  2. Carnival Corp – -57%
  3. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd – 56%
  4. TechnipFMC PLC – 56%
  5. Marathon Oil Corporation -51%

Best performing stocks on the Nasdaq (to the nearest percentage)

  1. Novavax Inc. + 2,549%
  2. Tesla – as above.
  3. Enphase Energy – 450%

Worst performing stocks on the Nasdaq (to the nearest percentage)

The worst performers on the Nasdaq were Energy Maritime Holdings (-94%) , Top Shire (-93%) and Globus Maritime (-93%)
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