10 best, 10 worst U.S. stocks so far in 2016

The U.S. stock market seemed like a seesaw on some days this month, with the S&P 500 Index declining on nine of 19 trading days. The average decrease on down days was 1.64%, while the average increase on up days was 0.98%.

The total return for the benchmark S&P 500 SPX, +2.48% with dividends reinvested, is a negative 5% so far this year, while the price of West Texas crude oil CLH6, -1.13% has sunk 9.2%, dragging down energy-company stocks.

The S&P 500 had its biggest gain of the year on Friday, when it rose 2.5%. The price of oil increased 1.6%, gaining 6.9% over the previous four trading sessions as investors “priced in” their expectations that Russia and members of OPEC would finally begin cutting production to support higher prices.

A catalyst for stocks Friday was the Bank of Japan’s decision to cut the interest rate on excess reserves deposited by banks to minus 0.1%. William Watts explained what the decision means for investors.

While the U.S. economy continues to grow, the fourth-quarter estimated annualized growth rate of only 0.7% was worrisome, while a 2.4% growth rate for all of 2015 matched that of 2014. On an annual basis, the economy hasn’t expanded at a rate higher than 3% since 2005. This is, of course, not great news. However, investors who fear rising U.S. interest rates may have been soothed.

The biggest question for investors is one that wraps everything up: Have we seen a bottom for oil prices? A sustained price increase would ease fears over slowing economies around the world, especially China, as well as overall demand for commodities.

Here are the 10 S&P 500 stocks with the largest declines during January 2016:

1, ENSCO PLC/ESV - 36%
2. United Rentals Inc/URI - 34%
3. BorgWarner Inc/WRK - 32%
4. FreePort Mcmoran Inc./FCX - 32%
5. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc./VRTX - 28%
6. Alliance Data Systems Corp/ADS - 28%
7. Auto Nations/AN - 28%
8. CF Industries Holdings/CF - 26%
9. Alcoa/AA - 26%
10. Owens-IIinois Inc./OI - 26%

To illustrate just how big a day Friday was for U.S. stocks, three names dropped from the above list, when it was updated to reflect Friday’s closing prices.

And here are the 10 S&P 500 stocks with the highest total returns in 2016:

1, Southwestern Energy Co/SWN - 25%
2. Range Resources Corp/RRC - 20%
3. EQT Corp/EQT - 18%
4. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp/COG - 17%
5. Macy's Inc/M - 16%
6. Spectra Energy Corp/SE - 15%
7. Coach Inc/COH - 13%
8. Kinder Morgan Inc. Class P/KMI - 11%
9. Hasboro/HAS - 11%
10. Newport Mining/NEM - 11%

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