Harry Truman said, There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know. (brainyquote.com) Therefore we first look at some of the financial big picture occurring in 2024.
Regarding stocks, the top three sectors were technology, consumer cyclical, and financials. No surprise about technology with the Magnificent Seven generally continuing to speed upward. But I see six companies that began the year as flyspecks and rose in value by more than 100 percent.
The tech winner was TSS, Inc. (TSSI), a Round Rock, Texas, NASDAQ microcap whose stock rose by 4,292 percent from 27 cents to $11.86. It is still worth less than $300M. Among consumer companies, Alliance Entertainment (AENT) rose 876 percent, and Sezzle (SEZL) led the financials higher with its gain of 1,146 percent!
The lagging sector was Materials which lost a hair for the entire year. The worst performer in it was Crown Electrokinetics (CRKN). It began at $22 and ended at 14 cents a share, lower by 99 percent. Energy in general, and especially clean energy, had a rough year.
The investment class of debt also lost in yields paid to its holders. Just when we were enjoying Treasury bills and Money Market Funds paying annualized returns of more than 5 percent, the Fed lowered rates by a half percent in late summer and now we fight to get about 4.2 percent at the most on those items considered the safest.
This year, to date, gold and other precious metal mining and oil and gas firms are off to a great new uptrend. Other industries to watch are heavy construction, materials, computer disk drives, airlines, and banks.
Whatever happens, it will undoubtedly be an interesting ride. As I mentioned before, my favorite economist expects stocks at year end to be down in value due to continuing effects of the Zero Interest Rate Program of 15 years to finally and fully come home to bite us. As usual, I am cautiously optimistic. And as is often said, someone will be making money. My job and perhaps yours is to find out where and to participate!
(Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The advice is general in nature and not intended for specific situations)
(Statistics from Worden Brothers, Inc., TC2000 software, 2025.)