Stocks in the NASDAQ composite index added on average $1 billion in market value in 2017 through Tuesday's close. Four of the five FAANG stocks (Apple, Amazon.com, Facebook and Google) were the top gainers. Apple led the index by adding $268 billion in market value. Over the year-to-date period, the index was up 29.1% on a total return basis; the index was up 8.9% for 2016 with most of the gains following the U.S. presidential election.
Compared to 2016, gains were both notably higher and more dispersed. 2017's standard deviation was more than three times that of 2016, with the dispersion among the index constituents more than $9.9 billion. On the negative end, losses were less severe. Walgreens saw the steepest decline, seeing $18 billion in market cap evaporate.
On average, all major economic sectors added value; materials, consumer discretionary (Amazon) and industrials were up the most. Telecom stocks were the least effective to investor portfolios, adding on average $45 million in market cap.
