S&P 500 Movers | Winners: AKAM, ANET, SMCI | Losers: SYF, MRNA, SW
A split market saw big moves at the extremes, raising questions about what investors are rewarding.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM) was the strongest S&P 500 stock of the day, returning +10.7% on a day the index itself was nearly flat. The S&P 500 returned -0.3%, caught between a declining Dow Jones Industrial Average, which returned -1.1%, and a rising Nasdaq-100, which returned +0.3%.
This divergence raises a key question: what separates the day’s biggest winner from its biggest loser? The full leaderboards below show the details.
Wednesday’s S&P 500 Winners
The 10 stocks with the highest returns on the last trading day:
| # | Ticker | Company Name | 1-D Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AKAM | Akamai Technologies | 10.7% | 45.1% |
| 2 | ANET | Arista Networks | 8.8% | 38.2% |
| 3 | SMCI | Super Micro Computer | 7.3% | -3.8% |
| 4 | SNDK | SanDisk | 6.8% | 627.6% |
| 5 | VLO | Valero Energy | 6.3% | 75.7% |
| 6 | BKR | Baker Hughes | 5.7% | 27.3% |
| 7 | MPC | Marathon Petroleum | 5.4% | 74.1% |
| 8 | CIEN | Ciena | 5.3% | 88.6% |
| 9 | CASY | Casey’s General Stores | 5.1% | 52.8% |
| 10 | PSX | Phillips 66 | 5.0% | 47.8% |
Wednesday’s S&P 500 Losers
And the 10 stocks with the lowest returns:
| # | Ticker | Company Name | 1-D Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SYF | Synchrony Financial | -9.6% | -17.5% |
| 2 | MRNA | Moderna | -7.5% | 150.3% |
| 3 | SW | Smurfit WestRock | -6.5% | 11.0% |
| 4 | AXON | Axon Enterprise | -6.3% | 5.6% |
| 5 | RMD | ResMed | -6.3% | -14.1% |
| 6 | GPN | Global Payments | -5.9% | -5.0% |
| 7 | ALGN | Align Technology | -5.7% | 11.9% |
| 8 | AMCR | Amcor | -5.6% | 3.6% |
| 9 | COF | Capital One Financial | -5.4% | -20.2% |
Valuation separates the day’s biggest winner and loser.
The day’s top performer, Akamai Technologies, trades at 42.3 times trailing earnings and its revenue grew 6.2% over the last twelve months. This stands in sharp contrast to the day’s weakest stock, Synchrony Financial (SYF), which returned -9.6%.
Synchrony Financial trades at 6.5 times trailing earnings, and its revenue declined 0.6% over the same period. The day’s extremes are also fresh moves, with no names repeating from the one-month leaderboards.
Movers Over The Last Week
Widening the window to five trading days, these are the strongest and weakest S&P 500 names:
| # | Ticker | Company Name | 1-W Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PLTR | Palantir Technologies | 13.3% | -25.6% |
| 2 | HOOD | Robinhood Markets | 13.2% | 0.4% |
| 3 | WDAY | Workday | 12.6% | -35.8% |
| 4 | WTW | Willis Towers Watson | 11.9% | -10.3% |
| 5 | AJG | Arthur J. Gallagher | 11.8% | -0.2% |
| 6 | ICE | Intercontinental Exchange | 11.4% | -14.7% |
| 7 | PSX | Phillips 66 | 11.1% | 47.8% |
| 8 | OXY | Occidental Petroleum | 10.3% | 31.5% |
| 9 | SCHW | Charles Schwab | 10.2% | 2.5% |
| 10 | CME | CME | 10.1% | -8.4% |
| # | Ticker | Company Name | 1-W Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GLW | Corning | -28.0% | 110.9% |
| 2 | TER | Teradyne | -27.3% | 81.8% |
| 3 | KLAC | KLA | -26.7% | 82.5% |
| 4 | SNDK | SanDisk | -24.0% | 627.6% |
| 5 | LRCX | Lam Research | -23.1% | 95.0% |
| 6 | MRVL | Marvell Technology | -22.2% | 173.0% |
| 7 | AMAT | Applied Materials | -21.1% | 122.5% |
| 8 | INTC | Intel | -21.0% | 198.8% |
| 9 | COHR | Coherent | -19.6% | 71.8% |
| 10 | GNRC | Generac | -19.2% | 73.5% |
Movers Over The Last Month
And over the last 21 trading days:
| # | Ticker | Company Name | 1-M Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MRNA | Moderna | 55.6% | 150.3% |
| 2 | HOOD | Robinhood Markets | 37.7% | 0.4% |
| 3 | TECH | Bio-Techne | 36.5% | 21.0% |
| 4 | GPC | Genuine Parts | 27.1% | 3.5% |
| 5 | AMAT | Applied Materials | 25.9% | 122.5% |
| 6 | CRL | Charles River Laboratories International | 23.5% | 12.3% |
| 7 | AXON | Axon Enterprise | 23.4% | 5.6% |
| 8 | DASH | DoorDash | 20.8% | -16.4% |
| 9 | DVA | DaVita | 20.1% | 103.1% |
| 10 | UAL | United Airlines | 19.4% | 12.9% |
| # | Ticker | Company Name | 1-M Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ORCL | Oracle | -34.3% | -27.5% |
| 2 | SMCI | Super Micro Computer | -32.3% | -3.8% |
| 3 | ACN | Accenture | -23.9% | -48.7% |
| 4 | SWKS | Skyworks Solutions | -20.5% | -5.8% |
| 5 | CTSH | Cognizant Technology Solutions | -20.3% | -48.3% |
| 6 | FOXA | Fox | -20.2% | -26.6% |
| 7 | ON | ON Semiconductor | -20.0% | 73.2% |
| 8 | FOX | Fox | -19.9% | -25.8% |
| 9 | FSLR | First Solar | -19.6% | -14.1% |
| 10 | LITE | Lumentum | -18.1% | 91.8% |
A big move is a starting point for research.
A daily movers list is a map of where market attention is focused, not a set of instructions. The real work for a disciplined investor begins after reading the tape. A stock’s sudden appearance on a one-day, one-week, or one-month list is simply new information.
The follow-up is to investigate the business behind the ticker and the price. These lists are best used to generate questions about what has changed for a company, not to provide immediate answers.
The next step is never to trade the list; it is to test it. Our Guidance Momentum screen shows which risers have management raising guidance behind them, and our Buy the Dip screen shows which of the fallers still generate the growth and cash that make a recovery plausible.
Every Name On That List Moved This Much In One Day
The movers list is a daily reminder of what a single stock can do to you: the same volatility fills both columns, and nobody knows which side their name lands on next. If one holding dominates your net worth, that coin flip is your future – and selling to spread the risk hands a slice to the IRS. There is a way to cap the downside and diversify out without the tax hit.