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1 / 50Best returns #25. Martin Marietta Materials
- October price change: 13.2%
- Sector: Materials
Biggest winners and losers from last month's stock market
The "October Effect" for stocks is a perceived period of volatility for stocks that has coincided with some of the most dramatic stock slumps in American history: The Panic of 1907, 1929's Black Tuesday, Black Thursday, and Black Monday, and Black Monday in 1987 when the Dow dropped by 22.6% in a single day. Since 1896, the average standard deviation of Dow Jones Industrial Average's daily changes across all months is 1.09%; for October alone, it's 1.43%.
Election-year Octobers are additionally noteworthy, as investors tend to favor stocks that align with the anticipated winner of the presidency and values can accordingly rise and fall quickly. This year, stocks were additionally beleaguered in October by spiking coronavirus cases that broke daily records several days in a row and forced renewed shutdowns around the country. The last week of October was Wall Street's worst since March.
Stacker compiled a list of the companies with the best and worst returns in October using data from IEX Cloud API (data date: Oct. 30, 2020). Companies in the S&P 500 were considered. The strongest showing came from Tapestry, Inc., the parent company of Kate Spade and Coach, which saw a price surge of more than 40% and is expected to keep its momentum up through November.
Keep reading to find out which stocks were October 2020's biggest winners and losers.
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2 / 50Best returns #24. Automatic Data Processing
- October price change: 13.2%
- Sector: Information Technology
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3 / 50Best returns #23. Charles Schwab Corporation
- October price change: 13.5%
- Sector: Financials
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4 / 50Best returns #22. Bio-Rad Laboratories
- October price change: 13.8%
- Sector: Health Care
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5 / 50Best returns #21. Huntington Bancshares
- October price change: 13.8%
- Sector: Financials
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6 / 50Best returns #20. Xilinx
- October price change: 13.9%
- Sector: Information Technology
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7 / 50Best returns #19. Waters Corporation
- October price change: 13.9%
- Sector: Health Care
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8 / 50Best returns #18. Gap Inc.
- October price change: 14.2%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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9 / 50Best returns #17. American International Group
- October price change: 14.4%
- Sector: Financials
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10 / 50Best returns #16. Corteva
- October price change: 14.5%
- Sector: Materials
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11 / 50Best returns #15. Kohl's Corp.
- October price change: 14.9%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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12 / 50Best returns #14. Invesco Ltd.
- October price change: 14.9%
- Sector: Financials
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13 / 50Best returns #13. Regions Financial Corp.
- October price change: 15.4%
- Sector: Financials
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14 / 50Best returns #12. LKQ Corporation
- October price change: 15.4%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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15 / 50Best returns #11. First Republic Bank
- October price change: 15.7%
- Sector: Financials
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16 / 50Best returns #10. Ford Motor Company
- October price change: 16.1%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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17 / 50Best returns #9. General Motors
- October price change: 16.7%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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18 / 50Best returns #8. Paycom
- October price change: 17.0%
- Sector: Information Technology
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19 / 50Best returns #7. Quanta Services Inc.
- October price change: 18.1%
- Sector: Industrials
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20 / 50Best returns #6. Comerica Inc.
- October price change: 19.0%
- Sector: Financials
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21 / 50Best returns #5. General Electric
- October price change: 19.1%
- Sector: Industrials
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22 / 50Best returns #4. SVB Financial
- October price change: 20.8%
- Sector: Financials
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23 / 50Best returns #3. Under Armour (Class A)
- October price change: 23.2%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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24 / 50Best returns #2. Align Technology
- October price change: 30.2%
- Sector: Health Care
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25 / 50Best returns #1. Tapestry Inc.
- October price change: 42.2%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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26 / 50Worst returns #25. D. R. Horton
- October price change: -11.7%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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27 / 50Worst returns #24. Lilly (Eli) & Co.
- October price change: -11.9%
- Sector: Health Care
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28 / 50Worst returns #23. PulteGroup
- October price change: -11.9%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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29 / 50Worst returns #22. Dish Network
- October price change: -12.2%
- Sector: Communication Services
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30 / 50Worst returns #21. Apache Corporation
- October price change: -12.4%
- Sector: Energy
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31 / 50Worst returns #20. TechnipFMC
- October price change: -12.4%
- Sector: Energy
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32 / 50Worst returns #19. Willis Towers Watson
- October price change: -12.6%
- Sector: Financials
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33 / 50Worst returns #18. Boeing Company
- October price change: -12.6%
- Sector: Industrials
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34 / 50Worst returns #17. Constellation Brands
- October price change: -12.8%
- Sector: Consumer Staples
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35 / 50Worst returns #16. Royal Caribbean Group
- October price change: -12.8%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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36 / 50Worst returns #15. ConocoPhillips
- October price change: -12.9%
- Sector: Energy
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37 / 50Worst returns #14. Equifax Inc.
- October price change: -12.9%
- Sector: Industrials
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38 / 50Worst returns #13. Noble Energy
- October price change: -13.0%
- Sector: Energy
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39 / 50Worst returns #12. C. H. Robinson Worldwide
- October price change: -13.5%
- Sector: Industrials
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40 / 50Worst returns #11. Diamondback Energy
- October price change: -13.8%
- Sector: Energy
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41 / 50Worst returns #10. Akamai Technologies Inc
- October price change: -13.9%
- Sector: Information Technology
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42 / 50Worst returns #9. Lennar Corp.
- October price change: -14.0%
- Sector: Consumer Discretionary
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43 / 50Worst returns #8. Intel Corp.
- October price change: -14.5%
- Sector: Information Technology
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44 / 50Worst returns #7. Amgen Inc.
- October price change: -14.6%
- Sector: Health Care
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45 / 50Worst returns #6. Mastercard Inc.
- October price change: -14.6%
- Sector: Information Technology
Paisit Teeraphatsakool
46 / 50Worst returns #5. Fidelity National Information Services
- October price change: -15.4%
- Sector: Information Technology
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47 / 50Worst returns #4. International Flavors & Fragrances
- October price change: -16.2%
- Sector: Materials
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48 / 50Worst returns #3. Citrix Systems
- October price change: -17.7%
- Sector: Information Technology
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49 / 50Worst returns #2. DexCom
- October price change: -22.5%
- Sector: Health Care
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50 / 50Worst returns #1. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc
- October price change: -23.4%
- Sector: Health Care
