The Dollar's Recent Impact on Stocks

The recent market declines have coincided with a big spike higher in the US Dollar.  When the dollar is declining, companies that generate a large portion of their sales outside of the US benefit.  When the dollar is rising, companies that generate most of their sales inside the US benefit. 

From our International Revenues Database, we pulled all companies that generate more than 50% of their sales outside of the US as well as all companies that generate all of their sales inside the US.  We then calculated the average performance of both groups since the market peaked on April 23rd.  While the average performance of all S&P 500 stocks since 4/23 has been -8.01%, the stocks that generate the majority of their sales outside of the US have declined by 9.32%.  Conversely, the stocks that generate zero revenues outside the US have only gone down 6.74%.  If you're looking to "beat the market," right now it pays to be focused on domestics.