AAP Advance Auto Parts

By Karen Langley 

Investors looking for places to hide in the stock-market rout have few options.

Only 19 stocks in the S&P 500 are up over the past month, and many of those have something in common: they have seen demand jump as Americans brace for the quickly spreading coronavirus epidemic.

The top five performers in the index over the past month through Tuesday afternoon are Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., up 21%; Kroger Co., up 13%; Cabot Oil & Gas Co., up 12%; AutoZone Inc., up 7.9%; and Newmont Corp., up 7.4%.

Farther down the list of winners: Dollar General Corp., Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., Campbell Soup Co., Advance Auto Parts Inc., Clorox Co. and Walmart Inc. Most are getting a bump as consumers prepare to hunker down at home if the outbreak accelerates.

The stock moves look like a reaction to "the pantry-loading that's going on as people are preparing to hunker down, more than anything on the long-term fundamentals of those businesses," said Andy Braun, a portfolio manager at Pax World Funds.

The S&P 500 as a whole is down 16% over the past month, and all 11 sectors are in the red. The breadth of the downturn is wide: 459 of the 505 constituents in the S&P 500 are down at least 10% from their 52-week high, while 311 are down at least 20%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Eight of the 10 biggest decliners in the index are energy-related stocks, which have tumbled sharply in conjunction with a plunge in oil prices as the coronavirus zaps demand. The biggest losers over the past month are Occidental Petroleum Corp., off 66%; Apache Corp., off 63%; and Marathon Oil Corp., off 63%.

The only names on that list outside the energy sector: Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., down 61%, and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., down 53%.

Many of the month's winners sit in the S&P 500's consumer-staples group, which has posted the smallest losses of the 11 sectors over the past month. The segment is seen as relatively insulated from economic downturns because consumers rarely put off purchases of essentials like food and diapers.

Among the other gainers, Regeneron has been racing to develop an antibody treatment for the virus. Chief Financial Officer Robert Landry said at a conference last week that the company intends to have the lead antibodies manufactured and ready for clinical trial use this summer.

Meanwhile, gas producer Cabot has rallied as investors bet the drop in crude will reduce the supply of natural gas, thereby raising prices. Gold miner Newmont has risen alongside the price of the precious metal as investors have rushed into safe-haven assets. And Take-Two has gotten a boost from expectations for higher videogaming demand when consumers are stuck at home.

Write to Karen Langley at karen.langley@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 10, 2020 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT)

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