If there’s one thing you can expect at holiday parties, it’s all the bragging about the stocks people owned. Funny, they’re all the stocks that went up. There are 10 stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500, including biotech Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), Southwest Airlines (LUV) and Electronic Arts (EA) that you can be certain to hear people talk about owning. We know this because these are the stocks that were up 50% or more this year through last week — and are up again over the past week, according to data from S&P Capital IQ and analyzed by USA TODAY. And it’s not your your coworkers who will talk about their genius at picking these wonderful stocks. It’s a game mutual fund managers are playing right now. In the quarterly “window dressing” ritual, mutual fund managers will buy shares of stocks that did great during the period. That way these managers can brag about owning them by listing them in their periodic reports. And the data shows you exactly which stocks these are. Take the best example, Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The company, working on treatments for a variety of genetic issues, has skyrocketed 55% this year through a week ago (Nov. 26). Investors who didn’t own the stock for the run want to make sure they have it in time for the holiday parties. That demand has pushed the stock up another 4.1% in the past week. Don’t you own airlines? Don’t you know they’ve been great this year? Look at Southwest Airlines. Shares are up 109% this year though last week. If you didn’t own the shares, apparently it’s time to buy if you want bragging rights. Shares are up 3.7% over the past week. And it is a similar story as with Delta (DAL). We’d hate to suggest that investors would be so cheap as to pile onto hot stocks just to be able to brag. But hey, we need something to talk about when we’re sipping our egg nog. WINNING S&P 500 STOCKS THAT ARE STAGING POWERFUL RUNS THE PAST WEEKCompanySymbol% Ch. YTD through 11/26% Ch. since 11/26Vertex PharmaceuticalsVRTX55.3%4.1%Southwest AirlinesLUV108.5%3.7%Electronic ArtsEA90.4%3.4%Edwards LifesciencesEW96.4%2.2%Regeneron Pharm.REGN51.1%2%Lam ResearchLRCX50.9%1.9%AvagoAVGO77.3%1.4%Delta AirDAL61%1.1%MarriottMAR57.0%1%Micron Tech.MU63.8%1% Sources: S&P Capital IQ, USA TODAY research