Sticking With Winners Is What Won in 2017’s Stock Market

An MSCI index grouping past stock winners rises 38% in 2017
The S&P 500 pushes its bull market advance to almost 300%

Pedestrians pass in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017.Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Have a confidential tip for our reporters? Get in Touch

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

December 29, 2017 at 4:41 PM EST

This article is for subscribers only.

Slice the rally however you want: chips, Nasdaq, retailers, banks. But 2017 will go down as the year an investment strategy based on nothing more than sticking with winners shined brightest.

Long momentum, when traders simply buy shares that are rising the fastest, returned 38 percent in 2017, the strongest advance since 1999. Paced by firms like Square Inc. and Align Technology Inc., the strategy came within an inch of surpassing its advance the year before the dot-com crash.

Have a confidential tip for our reporters? Get in Touch

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

LEARN MORE