At the end of the U.S. stock market in 2024, AppLovin, a component of the Nasdaq 100 Index, became the "stock king" of the year with an astonishing increase of 713%. The increase was more than four times that of AI leader NVIDIA, leading the three major index constituent stocks. Driven by the strong concept of artificial intelligence, the U.S. stock market has shown distinct structural characteristics. AI concept stocks represented by Nvidia generally rank among the top gainers in the three major indexes, while traditional consumer brands such as Nike and Estee Lauder have suffered heavy losses, falling by more than 30%.

In 2024, despite the U.S. stock market experiencing multiple tests such as the presidential election, inflation, and geopolitical conflicts, the three major indexes still achieved gains across the board. Among them, the Nasdaq 100 Index rose 27% throughout the year, the S&P 500 Index rose 24%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13%.


Performance of constituent stocks of the three major indexes

(1) Best performance

Nasdaq 100 Top Performers

  • AppLovin tops the list with a staggering 713% increase

  • MicroStrategy follows suit, rising 359%

  • Palantir Technologies rises 340%

  • NVIDIA rises 171%

  • Axon Enterprise rises 130%

    • S&P 500 Best Performance

  • Palantir Technologies led the way, rising 340%

  • Vistra followed closely behind, rising 256%

  • NVIDIA rises 171%

  • United Airlines rises 135%

  • Axon Enterprise rises 130%

    • Dow Jones Best Performance

  • Nvidia led the way, rising 171%

  • Walmart rises 72%

  • American Express rises 58%

  • Goldman Sachs rises 48%

  • Amazon rises 44%

    • (2) Worst performance

    It is worth noting that some traditional consumer brands and technology companies performed poorly:

    Nasdaq 100 worst performer

  • Intel suffered the biggest decline, down 60%

  • MongoDB falls 43%

  • Biogen fell 41%

  • DexCom fell 37%

  • Microchip Technology fell 36%

    • S&P 500 worst performer

  • Walgreens Boots Alliance suffered the deepest decline, down 64%

  • Intel fell 60%

  • Moderna fell 58%

  • Celanese fell 55%

  • Estee Lauder fell 49%

    • Dow Jones performs worst

  • Boeing fell 32%

  • Nike drops 30%

  • Amgen fell 10%

  • Merck fell 9%

  • Johnson & Johnson fell 8%

    • Looking forward to 2025, the inauguration of the new U.S. president and the earnings season will be important factors affecting the market, and investors need to continue to pay attention to the potential impact of these important events on the market.

    It is worth noting that the strong performance of AI concept stocks may continue in 2024, but investors also need to be wary of the risks caused by overvaluation.