Many of the big winners included in the S&P 500 index from 2020 are companies firmly rooted in the technology sector. The obvious big winner is Tesla, whose share price increased by *** times for a variety of reasons. While the increase in Tesla stocks (arguably) does not have a direct connection to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a look at many of the other companies in this list indicates a clear link. Online retailers such as Amazon and Etsy saw large increases in their stock price, along with companies who provide crucial parts of infrastructure necessary for online shopping such as PayPal and FedEx. Given the closure of brick and mortar stores in many parts of the world due to the pandemic, the causation here is evident. Similarly, computer chip manufactures NVIDIA and AMD saw returns of 100 percent or more, likely due both to the shift to remote working necessitated by the pandemic, as well as the global increase in playing video games resulting from the unavailability of many other activities.

As of November 14, 2021, all S&P 500 sector indices had recovered to levels above those of January 2020, prior to full economic effects of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic taking hold. However, different sectors recovered at different rates to sit at widely different levels above their pre-pandemic levels. This suggests that the effect of the coronavirus on financial markets in the United States is directly affected by how the virus has impacted various parts of the underlying economy. Which industry performed the best during the coronavirus pandemic? Companies operating in the information technology (IT) sector have been the clear winners from the pandemic, with the IT S&P 500 sector index sitting at almost ** percent above early 2020 levels as of November 2021. This is perhaps not surprising given this industry includes some of the companies who benefitted the most from the pandemic such as ************** and *******. The reason for these companies’ success is clear – as shops were shuttered and social gatherings heavily restricted due to the pandemic, online services such shopping and video streaming were in high demand. The success of the IT sector is also reflected in the performance of global share markets during the coronavirus pandemic, with tech-heavy NASDAQ being the best performing major market worldwide. Which industry performed the worst during the pandemic? Conversely, energy companies fared the worst during the pandemic, with the S&P 500 sector index value sitting below its early 2020 value as late as July 2021. Since then it has somewhat recovered, and was around ** percent above January 2020 levels as of October 2021. This reflects the fact that many oil companies were among the share prices suffering the largest declines over 2020. A primary driver for this was falling demand for fuel in line with the reduction in tourism and commuting caused by lockdowns all over the world. However, as increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates throughout 2021 led to lockdowns being lifted and global tourism reopening, demand has again risen - reflected by the recent increase in the S&P 500 energy index.

Amazon.com, Inc. was the best performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index in the fourth quarter of 2024. Over that period, its stock price rose more than **** percent. In 2020, most companies lost value in the first quarter as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but had largely recovered by the mid-year point. What is the DJIA? The DJIA is an index of 30 leading companies in the United States. Founded it 1885, it is one of the most indicators of sentiments on the financial markets. Many analysts follow indices such as the DJIA or the S&P 500 on a monthly or daily basis to have a better idea of how the stock market is doing at a given moment. The benefit of tracking markets The business cycle refers to the idea that the economy goes through a cyclic process of expansion and contraction. Stock market indices such as the DJIA can provide information on the timing of the next contraction, or recession. Investors try to use this and other data to predict the performance of sectors, or even single stocks. Of course, there is always a risk of choosing the stocks which don’t perform well.

Context

According to Investopedia:

FAANG is an acronym referring to the stocks of the five most popular and best-performing American technology companies: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet (formerly known as Google). In addition to being widely known among consumers, the five FAANG stocks are among the largest companies in the world, with a combined market capitalization of over $4.1 trillion as of January 2020. Some have raised concerns that the FAANG stocks may be in the midst of a bubble, whereas others argue that their growth is justified by the stellar financial and operational performance they have shown in recent years.

Regardless of the myriad of accolades, comments, and even controversies surrounding the FAANG stocks, they are nevertheless a data science/mining treasure and the bellwether of the NASDAQ index, if not the entire US technology sector.

This Kaggle dataset contains over 20 years of daily historical data for the five FAANG constituents, as retrieved from this free stock API. It is a public-domain dataset that gives the data science practitioners (a.k.a., you!) the full flexibility to derive second-order insights and investment heuristics from it.

Content

Over 20 years of daily historical data (2000-01-01 to 2020-10-01) for the five FAANG stocks: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Alphabet/Google. For completeness, both raw and adjusted prices are included, along with historical split events and dividend payouts (check out here for how stock market API providers perform price adjustments).

Acknowledgements

Data source: https://www.alphavantage.co/

Analysis of ‘MasterCard Stock Data - Latest and Updated’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/kalilurrahman/mastercard-stock-data-latest-and-updated on 12 November 2021.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Mastercard_2019_logo.svg/195px-Mastercard_2019_logo.svg.png" alt="Mastercard">

Mastercard Inc. (stylized as MasterCard from 1979 to 2016 and MasterCard since 2016) is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in the Mastercard International Global Headquarters in Purchase, New York. The Global Operations Headquarters is located in O'Fallon, Missouri, a municipality of St. Charles County, Missouri. Throughout the world, its principal business is to process payments between the banks of merchants and the card-issuing banks or credit unions of the purchasers who use the "Mastercard" brand debit, credit, and prepaid cards to make purchases. Mastercard Worldwide has been a publicly traded company since 2006. Prior to its initial public offering, Mastercard Worldwide was a cooperative owned by the more than 25,000 financial institutions that issue its branded cards.

Mastercard, originally known as Interbank from 1966 to 1969 and Master Charge from 1969 to 1979, was created by an alliance of several regional bank card associations in response to the BankAmericard issued by Bank of America, which later became the Visa credit card issued by Visa Inc.

Mastercard is one of the best performing stocks of the decade of 2011-2020

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

The value of the DJIA index amounted to ****** at the end of June 2025, up from ********* at the end of March 2020. Global panic about the coronavirus epidemic caused the drop in March 2020, which was the worst drop since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Dow Jones Industrial Average index – additional information The Dow Jones Industrial Average index is a price-weighted average of 30 of the largest American publicly traded companies on New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, and includes companies like Goldman Sachs, IBM and Walt Disney. This index is considered to be a barometer of the state of the American economy. DJIA index was created in 1986 by Charles Dow. Along with the NASDAQ 100 and S&P 500 indices, it is amongst the most well-known and used stock indexes in the world. The year that the 2018 financial crisis unfolded was one of the worst years of the Dow. It was also in 2008 that some of the largest ever recorded losses of the Dow Jones Index based on single-day points were registered. On September 29, 2008, for instance, the Dow had a loss of ****** points, one of the largest single-day losses of all times. The best years in the history of the index still are 1915, when the index value increased by ***** percent in one year, and 1933, year when the index registered a growth of ***** percent.

Venezuela's main stock market index, the IBC, rose to 611 points on August 8, 2025, gaining 9.41% from the previous session. Over the past month, the index has climbed 55.87% and is up 567.18% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Venezuela. Venezuela Stock Market (IBVC) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on August of 2025.

While the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused all major stock market indices to fall sharply in March 2020, both the extent of the decline at this time, and the shape of the subsequent recovery, have varied greatly. For example, on March 15, 2020, major European markets and traditional stocks in the United States had shed around ** percent of their value compared to January *, 2020. However, Asian markets and the NASDAQ Composite Index only shed around ** to ** percent of their value. A similar story can be seen with the post-coronavirus recovery. As of November 14, 2021 the NASDAQ composite index value was around ** percent higher than in January 2020, while most other markets were only between ** and ** percent higher. Why did the NASDAQ recover the quickest? Based in New York City, the NASDAQ is famously considered a proxy for the technology industry as many of the world’s largest technology industries choose to list there. And it just so happens that technology was the sector to perform the best during the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, many of the largest companies who benefitted the most from the pandemic such as Amazon, PayPal and Netflix, are listed on the NADSAQ, helping it to recover the fastest of the major stock exchanges worldwide. Which markets suffered the most? The energy sector was the worst hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, oil companies share prices suffered large declines over 2020 as demand for oil plummeted while workers found themselves no longer needing to commute, and the tourism industry ground to a halt. In addition, overall share prices in two major stock exchanges – the London Stock Exchange (as represented by the FTSE 100 index) and Hong Kong (as represented by the Hang Seng index) – have notably recovered slower than other major exchanges. However, in both these, the underlying issue behind the slower recovery likely has more to do with political events unrelated to the coronavirus than it does with the pandemic – namely Brexit and general political unrest, respectively.

The average for 2021 based on 87 countries was 32.21 percent. The highest value was in Venezuela: 991.39 percent and the lowest value was in Botswana: -6.38 percent. The indicator is available from 1984 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

China's main stock market index, the SHANGHAI, rose to 3648 points on August 11, 2025, gaining 0.34% from the previous session. Over the past month, the index has climbed 3.63% and is up 27.62% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from China. China Shanghai Composite Stock Market Index - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on August of 2025.

Canada's main stock market index, the TSX, rose to 27775 points on August 11, 2025, gaining 0.06% from the previous session. Over the past month, the index has climbed 2.12% and is up 24.00% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Canada. Canada Stock Market Index (TSX) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on August of 2025.

As of the first half of 2023, the price performance of FTSE 350 index was stagnant. The sector showing the best performance throughout the first half of 2023 was the construction and materials one, with a price increase of ** percent.

As of April 2025, the Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange amounted to ********* points. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the index dropped as part of a broader Pan-Asian trend. However, by the end of 2020, when the pandemic situation stabilized in many countries and news about a vaccine rollout came out, the Hang Seng Index recovered and recorded significant increases every month. Index composition The Hang Seng Index is the most prominent indicator of stock performance on the Hong Kong Exchange. By including the 50 largest companies, the index represents the market movements of more than half of the bourse’s market capitalization. In addition to that, the Hang Seng Index has numerous smaller indices which mirror smaller industries or market sections. The Hang Seng Composite Index One example of a sub-index is the Hang Seng Composite Index. It reflects the performance of the top 95 percentile of the total market capitalization. The financial industry accounted for the largest share of companies included in the index, followed by the information technology sector. Prominent companies represented in the index are Tencent, AIA, and Meituan.

Prices for United States Stock Market Index (US30) including live quotes, historical charts and news. United States Stock Market Index (US30) was last updated by Trading Economics this August 12 of 2025.

Australia's main stock market index, the ASX200, rose to 8855 points on August 12, 2025, gaining 0.12% from the previous session. Over the past month, the index has climbed 3.32% and is up 13.14% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Australia. Australia Stock Market Index - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on August of 2025.

In 2023, the South African multinational Naspers was the largest company in Africa by market value. It had a market value of over 80.8 billion U.S. dollars. FirstRand, which is also listed in South Africa, ranked second with a value of around 19.1 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Standard Bank Group at roughly 16.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Naspers: an international player from South Africa

Naspers Limited had origin in a publishing company established in South Africa in 1915. The business went public in 1994, when it was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Over the years, Naspers expanded and diversified to become a global leader in the digital and technological market. Specifically, its subsidiary Prosus is among the main internet and online service companies worldwide. In 2023, Naspers’s total assets amounted to around 66 billion U.S. dollars. The total revenue reached approximately 22 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, after increasing steadily from 2013 onwards. Naspers South Africa owns Takealot.com, one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in Africa.

Africa’s stock exchanges

Africa has 29 stock exchanges. The leading bourse on the continent is the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, which also ranked among the largest stock exchanges in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, with a total market capitalization of over 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars as of 2023. The bourse of Nigeria was considered the best performing stock market on the continent in 2020, and the fourth best in 2022. MTN Nigeria and Dangote Cement were the leading companies listed in the Nigerian Exchange Group as of 2031. Additionally, another key stock market in Africa is the Egyptian Stock Exchange, which counted 218 listed companies in 2022.

Until the fourth quarter of 2023, the S&P 500 and the S&P 500 ESG index exhibited similar performance, both indexes were weighted to similar industries as the S&P 500 followed the leading 500 companies in the United States. Throughout 2024, the S&P 500 ESG index steadily outperformed the S&P 500 by ***** points on average. During the coronavirus pandemic, the technology sector was one of the best-performing sectors in the market. The major differences between the two indexes were the S&P 500 ESG index was skewed towards firms with higher environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores and had a higher concentration of technology securities than the S&P 500 index. What is a market capitalization index? Both the S&P 500 and the S&P 500 ESG are market capitalization indexes, meaning the individual components (such as stocks and other securities) weighted to the indexes influence the overall value. Market trends such as inflation, interest rates, and international issues like the coronavirus pandemic and the popularity of ESG among professional investors affect the performance of stocks. When weighted components rise in value, this causes an increase in the overall value of the index they are weighted too. What trends are driving index performance? Recent economic and social trends have led to higher levels of ESG integration and maintenance among firms worldwide and higher prioritization from investors to include ESG-focused firms in their investment choices. From a global survey group over ********* of the respondents were willing to prioritize ESG benefits over a higher return on their investment. These trends influenced the performance of securities on the market, leading to an increased value of individual weighted stocks, resulting in an overall increase in the index value.

In 2023, the S&P 500 Information Technology Index outperformed other sectors, with annual return of **** percent. On the other hand, the S&P 500 Utilities Index recorded the lowest returns, with a loss of *** percent.

Iran's main stock market index, the TEDPIX, closed flat at 2589000 points on August 5, 2025. Over the past month, the index has declined 2.60%, though it remains 29.28% higher than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Iran. Iran Tehran Stock Market Index - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on August of 2025.

Singapore's main stock market index, the STI, fell to 4221 points on August 12, 2025, losing 0.29% from the previous session. Over the past month, the index has climbed 2.71% and is up 29.53% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Singapore. Singapore Stock Market (STI) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on August of 2025.