MW 15 stocks in the S&P 500 showing double-digit gains since the attack on Iran began
By Philip van Doorn
The materials sector of the S&P 500 has been the strongest of the index's 11 sectors since Feb. 27
Even in the midst of a broad decline for stocks, some winners have emerged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
Any bit of good news, or at least an easing of disruption, can change a stock-market trend. But even with some signs of life for stock prices early Friday, 80% of stocks in the S&P 500 were down since the close on Feb. 27 - the day before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
From the close on Feb. 27, the S&P 500 SPX was down 2.6% early on Friday, even as it was up 0.5% that morning. Nine of the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 were down from Feb. 27. The two exceptions were the energy sector, which was up 2.7% during the nearly two-week period, and the information-technology sector, which was up 0.4%. All price changes in this article exclude dividends.
Included in MarketWatch's live coverage of Friday's developments was a report in the Financial Times that France and Italy were negotiating with the government of Iran for safe passage for their ships through the Strait of Hormuz. That helped push the price of front-month contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil (CL00) on the New York Mercantile Exchange down 1.2% to $94.52 a barrel. But WTI was still up 41% from the settlement price of $67.02 on Feb. 27.
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On Wednesday, Tomi Kilgore explained how and why CF Industries Holdings was the top performer among the S&P 500 since the attack on Iran began. And even though the stock was down 6.7% in morning trading on Friday, CF Industries was still the top performer in the U.S. large-cap benchmark index since Feb. 27.
These 15 stocks among the S&P 500 were showing double-digit gains from Feb. 27 through Friday morning trading:
Company March 13 price change Price change since Feb. 27 2026 price change 2025 price changeIndustry CF Industries Holdings -6.7% 27.5% 64.1% -9.4%Agricultural chemicals LyondellBasell Industries -3.0% 25.4% 66.5% -41.7%Commodity chemicals Dow Inc. -1.1% 21.0% 59.0% -41.7%Commodity chemicals CrowdStrike Holdings 0.7% 19.6% -5.1% 37.0%Software Marathon Petroleum 0.6% 16.7% 42.3% 16.6%Oil & gas refining and marketing Datadog 1.3% 15.0% -5.3% -4.8%Software Valero Energy -0.3% 14.9% 44.4% 32.8%Oil & gas refining and marketing Trade Desk 2.4% 14.1% -28.4% -67.7%Software Coinbase Global 3.6% 13.8% -11.5% -8.9%Blockchain & cryptocurrency Phillips 66 0.7% 13.6% 35.8% 13.3%Oil & gas refining and marketing Palo Alto Networks 0.5% 13.4% -8.3% 1.2%Software APA 1.8% 12.6% 39.8% 5.9%Oil & gas refining and marketing Palantir Technologies -0.7% 11.1% -14.2% 135.0%Software Kroger 0.2% 10.0% 20.2% 2.2%Food retail & distribution Akamai Technologies 2.2% 9.5% 23.5% -8.8%IT services & consulting Source: LSEG
Click on the tickers for more about each company.
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Here is a roundup of how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 performed from the close on Feb. 27 through midmorning Friday, with the full index at the bottom:
Sector or index Price change since Feb. 27 2026 price change 2025 price change
Energy 2.7% 27.8% 5.0%
Information technology 0.4% -5.2% 23.3%
Utilities -1.2% 10.0% 12.7%
Communications services -2.0% -1.7% 32.4%
Real estate -3.1% 5.7% -0.3%
Consumer discretionary -3.5% -7.2% 5.3%
Financial services -4.2% -10.3% 13.3%
Consumer staples -5.0% 10.2% 1.3%
Healthcare -5.7% -2.6% 12.5%
Industrials -6.8% 6.3% 17.7%
Materials -7.7% 8.6% 8.4%
S&P 500 -2.6% -2.1% 16.4%
Source: LSEG
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March 13, 2026 11:09 ET (15:09 GMT)
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