U.S. Stocks Recap in February: Who Are the Winners and Losers?

It could have been worse, but more than three-quarters of the stocks in the S&P 500 were down for the month

Intel was the worst performer in February among the components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with shares down 12%.

The euphoria of January reversed in February, with broad declines for stocks across the board as interest rates continued to rise. Bond interest rates are more attractive than they have been for decades, and investors' increasing confidence that the Federal Reserve will prolong its rate increases to fight inflation has brought similar pressures to the stock market to those we saw last year.

That said, some of the stocks that were hit hardest during 2022 have continued to bounce back. For example, Tesla Inc. (TSLA) shares rose 19% in February and are now up 67% for 2023, following their 65% plunge last year. Similarly, shares of Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) were up 19% for February and up 59% for this year, following a 50% decline in 2022.

Below is a list of February's worst- and best-performing stocks.

The S&P 500 was down slightly on Feb. 28 and ended with a 2.6% decline for the month but a 3.4% increase for 2023. (All price changes in this article exclude dividends.)

Here's how the 11 sectors of the benchmark index fared:

The energy sector was the worst performer of February, while the information technology sector was the only one to show a gain.

Among the S&P 500, 78% of stocks showed declines during February.

Here are the 20 worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 for the month:

To accentuate the positive, here are the 10 best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 during February:

The Dow 30

The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back 4.2% for the month, though it was down only 1.5% for 2023. All but three of its 30 of its components declined in February:

Nasdaq-100

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell only 1.1% in February and was up 9.4% for 2023, following its 33% drubbing during 2022.

To take a closer look at Nasdaq components, let's narrow the list down to the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX), which includes the 100 largest nonfinancial stocks, by market capitalization, in the full Nasdaq. It is tracked by the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ).

And here are the best performers for the month among the Nasdaq-100: