Summary
To date, 2026 has been a volatile year for stocks. The major indices started the year by moving higher, but that changed with the onset of the war with Iran on February 28. As oil prices began to climb rapidly, stock prices fell inversely. The Mag7 were out, but now seem to be back in (or at least most of them). AI was in and remains in. Of note, this is President Trump’s second year in office, and typically, the second year of a presidency is weak for stocks. Meanwhile, inflation is slowly-and-steadily inching higher again and interest rates haven’t budged since the Federal Reserve’s last rate cut in December. In 1Q26, the S&P 500 fell 4.3%. In the Argus universe of more than 500 public companies, the average share-price decline was 0.3%, and the median decline was 2%. The following stocks are the top-10 and the bottom-five performers from the Argus universe during 1Q. Among the winners, we
