Stock markets shattered a year ago as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on economies around the globe created havoc. To stop the spread of coronavirus, governments gave stay-at-home orders and social-distancing guidelines. The new way of life ushered trends like working and shopping from home, and at-home entertainment. A few thrived and are some of the best performing sectors of 2021, while others were seriously stung.
Best Performing Sectors Today
Twelve months later, markets have recuperated to an extent, yet the economic impact of the pandemic remains. Here, we take a take at some of the best performing sectors of 2021. These sectors not only fared well over the past year, but are influencing global markets. Herd immunity to COVID-19 is critical to recovery but the vaccine rollout has been sluggish, and analysts expect immunity by the end of 2021 in the U.S. and by the end of 2023 worldwide.
Technology
The Covid-19 pandemic added a spark to existing trends. People shopped from home, sought entertainment from OTT platforms at home, and 45% of U.S. workers said they worked from home in 2020, compared and 9% in 2019. Technology bigwigs like Amazon.com, Netflix, and Microsoft profited by these trends, and the technology sector took off in 2020 along with the same promise of remaining one of the best performing sectors of the year.
Healthcare
Despite the coronavirus crisis, the healthcare sector didn’t go through as much volatility as other sectors. The median U.S. healthcare stock is currently trading at a 9% premium. Pharmaceutical companies will likely once again turn this sector into the best performing sector of 2021 overall.
Logistics and Supply Chain
The shift to ecommerce has accelerated due to stay-at-home orders, and companies like UPS and FedEx and UPS couldn’t be more joyous. With the transportation of refrigerated vaccines lining up to be a top priority of the year, it’s no surprise that logistics and supply chain is enjoying a special place on stock markets worldwide.
Online Shopping
While Amazon is the undisputed king of ecommerce, companies like Etsy have also had a fortunate year—as did many retail companies on the other side of the ocean. Chinese ecommerce Pinduoduo, seen as one of the fastest growing tech companies today, earned 331% on the year as it benefited from emerging patterns, such as, consumer-to-manufacturing sales, team purchasing and social ecommerce.
