MW 20 stocks that bucked the stock market's decline in March with gains of up to 40%
By Philip van Doorn
Energy stocks have fared well as crude-oil prices have shot up, but one other industry group has also done well since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28
Even a sharply lower market will have exceptions. Among the S&P 500, 84% of stocks declined in March. Exceptions included oil producers and refiners, as well as several chemical manufacturers.
Updated with day-end prices for stocks and commodities on March 31.
The S&P 500 rallied 2.9% on Tuesday, but the large-cap U.S. benchmark index ended with a 5.1% decline for March.
Among the index's components, 84% showed declines for the month, with 144 stocks down at least 10.0% and 46 down at least 15.0% during March. All price changes in this article exclude dividends.
Read: These 20 stocks in the S&P 500 fell hardest during March
Here is a rundown of how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 have performed from the close on Friday, Feb. 27 - the day before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran - through Tuesday. The sectors are in ascending order by March price changes, with the full index at the bottom:
Sector or index March price change 2026 price change 2025 price change
Industrials -8.5% 4.3% 17.7%
Healthcare -8.3% -5.3% 12.5%
Consumer staples -7.7% 7.0% 1.3%
Communication services -7.3% -7.1% 32.4%
Materials -7.1% 9.3% 8.4%
Real estate -6.6% 1.9% -0.3%
Consumer discretionary -5.7% -9.3% 5.3%
Information technology -3.9% -9.3% 23.3%
Financial -3.7% -9.8% 13.3%
Utilities -3.4% 7.5% 12.7%
Energy 10.3% 37.2% 5.0%
S&P 500 Index -5.1% -4.6% 16.4%
Source: LSEG
The energy sector was the only one to show a gain for the month. Continuous front-month contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil (CL00) on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined 1.2% on Tuesday to $101.65 a barrel, up 52% from $67.02 on Feb. 27, and up 77% from $57.42 on Dec. 31.
Read: Here's the long-term case for investing in producers of oil and natural gas
Oil producers and refiners dominate the list below of the S&P 500's SPX biggest gainers during March, but there are also chemical producers on the list.
Fear of declining demand for other commodities hurt the materials sector, which was down 7.9% for March. Front-month contracts for gold (GC00) rose 3.1% on Tuesday to $4,702.30 an ounce. Gold was down 10.4% from $5.247.90 on Feb. 27, but up 8.3% from $4,341.10 at the end of 2025.
But within the materials sector, the S&P 500 chemicals industry group was down only 1.6% for March. Narrowing further, the fertilizers and agricultural chemicals subindustry group was up 8.2% for the month, according to LSEG. LyondellBasell Industries NV $(LYB)$ was the best performer among the S&P 500 during March, with a 40.1% gain. Three more companies in that last group were among the S&P 500's best performers since the start of the Iran conflict. They are listed below.
Another exception within the materials sector was aluminum, with Iran attacking facilities in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain over the weekend. MarketWatch's Tomi Kilgore looked into three aluminum suppliers whose stocks were surging.
The S&P 500's winners during March
Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 that ended March with the largest monthly gains:
Company March price change 2026 price change 2025 price changeIndustry LyondellBasell Industries 40.1% 86.1% -41.7%Commodity chemicals APA 39.7% 73.5% 5.9%Oil & gas exploration and production Dow 35.5% 78.1% -41.7%Commodity chemicals CF Industries Holdings 30.4% 67.9% -9.4%Agricultural chemicals Marathon Petroleum 23.2% 50.1% 16.6%Oil & gas refining and marketing Occidental Petroleum 22.5% 58.1% -16.8%Oil & gas exploration and production Valero Energy 20.7% 51.8% 32.8%Oil & gas refining and marketing Phillips 66 18.0% 41.2% 13.3%Oil & gas refining and marketing Akamai Technologies 16.7% 31.6% -8.8%IT services & consulting EOG Resources 16.5% 37.7% -14.3%Oil & gas exploration and production ConocoPhillips 16.3% 41.0% -5.6%Oil & gas exploration and production Devon Energy 15.6% 37.4% 11.9%Oil & gas exploration and production Coterra Energy 14.9% 33.5% 3.1%Oil & gas exploration and production Diamondback Energy 13.6% 31.6% -8.2%Oil & gas exploration and production Ciena 11.3% 66.0% 175.8%Communications & networking Exxon Mobil 11.3% 41.0% 11.9%Oil & gas refining and marketing Hewlett Packard Enterprise 10.9% -0.9% 12.5%Computer hardware Dell Technologies 10.8% 30.4% 9.2%Computer hardware Chevron 10.8% 35.8% 5.2%Integrated oil & gas ONEOK 9.2% 23.0% -26.8%Oil & gas transportation services Source: LSEG
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Don't miss: This commodities strategy can protect you from inflation, scarcity and even price declines
-Philip van Doorn
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 31, 2026 17:49 ET (21:49 GMT)
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