The stock market rout is starting to get really expensive — destroying $2.3 trillion from the market's top last year and $1.5 trillion in net wealth just this year.
The giant companies that predominantly populate the Standard & Poor's 500 have fallen an average of 8.9% this year — which, when translated into dollars, is real money. Real big money. The S&P 500 is down 8% this year already — including another 2.2% Friday — in what's been the worst start to a year ever. Since the market peak on May 21, 2015, the market has declined 11.7%.
The biggest wealth destroyers in the S&P 500 from the high have been gadget makerApple (AAPL), pipeline company Kinder Morgan (KMI) and corporate software company Oracle (ORCL) — crushing $218 billion, $63.5 billion and $49.8 billion in market value, respectively, from the May 21, 2015, top.
S&P 500 STOCKS THAT DESTROYED THE MOST SHAREHOLDER WEALTH FROM THE MAY 21, 2015, TOP
Company, Symbol, % lost from high, $ market value erased from the high ($ billions)
Apple, AAPL, -26%, -$218
Kinder Morgan, KMI, -69.5%, -$63.5
Oracle, ORCL, -22.8%, -$49.8
Walmart, WMT, -18.7%, -$47.3
Berkshire Hathaway, BRKA, -12.7%, -$45.6
Source: S&P Capital IQ, USA TODAY
This year, most of the money is being shredded by the giant companies that many U.S. investors loaded up on during the bull, including gadget maker Apple, online retailerAmazon.com (AMZN) and online advertising firm Alphabet (GOOGL).
When it comes to destroying market value, Apple is in a class of its own. The company has erased a staggering $44.7 billion in investor wealth this year following its 7.7% decline this year to close Friday at $97.05 a share. More than $200 billion in market value has been erased by just this one stock from the market high — which is more than a vast majority of big companies are worth.
Red hot retailer Amazon is down a whopping 16% this year — after more than doubling in value in 2015. That means investors in Amazon are down $49 billion this year. Google's parent, Alphabet, is also taking the shredder to investors' money — cutting its market value 8.8% this year by $47.2 billion.
When you see how much money is being erased by the biggest companies — you can see why this sell-off is getting uncomfortable … and expensive.
S&P 500 STOCKS THAT DESTROYED THE MOST SHAREHOLDER WEALTH THIS YEAR
Company, Symbol, % lost YTD, $ market value erased YTD ($ billions)
Amazon.com, AMZN, -15.5%, -$49.0
Alphabet, GOOGL, -8.8%, -$47.2
Apple, AAPL, -7.7%, -$44.7
Microsoft, MSFT, -8.1%, -$35.8
JPMorgan Chase, JPM, -13.7%, -$33.3
Wells Fargo, WFC, -10.2%, -$28.3
Citigroup, C, -18.1%, -$27.9
Facebook, FB, -9.3%, -$27.9
General Electric, GE, -8.7%, -$25.5
Bank of America, BAC, -14.2%, -$24.9
This story originally appeared in USA Today by Matt Krantz on January 15, 2016. View article here.
