The Worst Have Been the Best

Since the Russell 1,000 bottomed on November 26th, the average stock in the index is up 7.29%. We broke the index into deciles (10 groups of 100 stocks) based on their performance during the market's correction from 10/9 to 11/26 to see how stocks that performed the best and worst during the declines are performing during the current rally. As shown in the chart below, the results are pretty clear. The decile of the worst performing stocks during the correction is up the most during the rally, with an average performance of 11.24%. The second worst decile is up the second most, the third worst decile is up the third most, and so on and so on. Investors have clearly been doing some bottom fishing throughout the rally.

Below we highlight the 20 best performing stocks in the Russell 1,000 since the 11/26 bottom. As shown, FRE is up the most at 51%, but it was down 61% from 10/9 to 11/26. Only two stocks on the best performing list were up during the correction -- THC and MOS. Other notables on the list below are CFC (up 40%), FNM (up 34%) and homebuilders CTX, RYL, DHI, TOL, LEN, NVR and PHM.