Before August, Starbucks stock had dropped 19% since the beginning of the year. But after hiring Brian Nicole from Chipotle Mexican Grill as its new CEO, shares shot back 21%. Picture: Getty Images/Agence France-Presse
The S&P 500 was more volatile in August than in any other month. But after falling 6.1% in the first three trading days of the month, the U.S. large-cap benchmark index rose 2.3% by the end of the month.
The S&P 500 SPX has gone up 18.4% so far this year. It went up 24.2% in 2023. This page only talks about price changes without dividends.
As of August, these are how the 11 S&P 500 sectors did, along with price changes for the year and the two previous years. The full index is at the bottom.
| Sector or index | August price change | 2024 price change | 2023 price change | 2022 price change |
| Consumer Staples | 5.8% | 15.8% | -2.2% | -3.2% |
| Real Estate | 5.6% | 8.5% | 8.3% | -28.4% |
| Healthcare | 5.0% | 15.0% | 0.3% | -3.6% |
| Financials | 4.4% | 21.2% | 9.9% | -12.4% |
| Utilities | 4.3% | 19.8% | -10.2% | -1.4% |
| Industrials | 2.7% | 15.1% | 16.0% | -7.1% |
| Materials | 2.2% | 10.0% | 10.2% | -14.1% |
| Communication Services | 1.2% | 22.3% | 54.4% | -40.4% |
| Information Technology | 1.2% | 26.5% | 56.4% | -28.9% |
| Consumer Discretionary | -1.1% | 5.8% | 41.0% | -37.6% |
| Energy | -2.3% | 8.7% | -4.8% | 59.0% |
| S&P 500 | 2.3% | 18.4% | 24.2% | -19.4% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
It might not have been a big surprise that value-oriented parts of the stock market did well in August. Investors were looking forward to a run of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. The companies that are growing more slowly and trade low compared to their earnings, sales, or book value might gain more from lower interest rates because they borrow more money than Big Tech companies that grow quickly and rely on cash flow.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on August 23 that “the time has come” for lower interest rates. This sets the stage for a run of rate cuts that will start with the Federal Open Market Committee’s two-day policy meeting in September.
Best-performing stocks of August
Among the S&P 500, 71% of stocks showed gains for the month, with 52 rising by double-digit percentages — led by these 10:
| Company | Ticker | August price change | 2024 price change | 2023 price change | 2022 price change |
| Kellanova | K | 38.6% | 44.2% | -22% | 11% |
| Fortinet Inc. | FTNT | 32.2% | 31.1% | 20% | -32% |
| Axon Enterprise Inc | AXON | 21.7% | 41.3% | 56% | 6% |
| Starbucks Corp. | SBUX | 21.3% | -1.5% | -3% | -15% |
| Clorox Co. | CLX | 20.0% | 11.0% | 2% | -20% |
| CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. | CRWD | 19.5% | 8.6% | 142% | -49% |
| Eli Lilly and Co. | LLY | 19.4% | 64.7% | 59% | 32% |
| Kenvue Inc. | KVUE | 18.7% | 2.0% | N/A | N/A |
| Arch Capital Group Ltd. | ACGL | 18.1% | 52.3% | 18% | 41% |
| Progressive Corp. | PGR | 17.8% | 58.3% | 23% | 26% |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
Before Kellogg’s split off its cereal business to the new WK Kellogg Co. KLG in October, Kellanova K was known as Kellogg’s.
Mars decided on August 14 to buy Kellanova for $83.50 per share in cash, which is about $35.9 billion. Kellanova owns snack brands like Pringles and Cheez-It. Kellanova’s shares finished on Friday at $80.53, which is 4% less than the price they were bought for.
Shares of Starbucks Corp. SBUX went up 21.3% at the end of the month and are only slightly down for the year 2024. After a bad quarterly earnings report on July 30, investors were happy to hear on August 13 that Brian Nicol would be taking over as CEO in September. This caused the stock to rise 24% that day. Nicol is going to step down as CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. CMG on Saturday.
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.’s CRWD stock had a great August, as it became the sixth-largest gainer in the S&P 500 after having the second-worst performance in July. Investors were worried about the effects of a CrowdStrike software update that caused a big tech outage in July and made customers angry because they missed out on business. But when CrowdStrike reported earnings this week, it changed people’s expectations. It lowered its forecast but told investors that customers still wanted to do business with it.
Like Fortinet Inc. FTNT, another cybersecurity business, it had a good outlook at the beginning of the month. This came after a negative report three months before.
