Last year's steep sell-off on Wall Street punished tech-related heavyweights as investors worried about rising interest rates dumped stocks with high valuations.
Apple, Microsotf, Alphabet and Amazon all fell more than 20%; Exxon Mobil took advantage of the tailwind of oil prices and rose by nearly 90% throughout the year.
Exxon Mobil has enjoyed the most meteoric rise in the S&P 500. The energy giant jumped this year almost like tech stocks did in the boom. Shares of the energy giant soared 87% this year, adding $195 billion in market value.
That surge in market value — more than with any stock in the S&P 500 — makes Exxon Mobil the eighth most valuable stock in the S&P 500. It's remarkable to think that it only ranked 27th most valuable in the S&P 500 a year ago.
It's stunning to see Exxon Mobil coming back so quickly. It wasn't even in the S&P 500's top 10 since 2018 (when it was ninth). But this is a company that was once dominant. It was the very most valuable S&P 500 company as recently as 2011, until Apple surpassed it in 2012.