The stock indexes were mixed this week, as investors and traders assessed a string of economic data, including U.S. PMI composite that ticked up unexpectedly in flash June print.
This comes days after U.S. Federal Reserve kept its benchmark policy rate unchanged for a seventh straight meeting, even though policymakers acknowledged that there had been “modest further progress” towards their 2% inflation target.
The benchmark S&P 500 index (SP500) closed lower on Friday. It topped the historic 5,500 points level for the first time ever during Thursday’s session before retreating from record levels to end mixed.
Here is a look at some of the trending stocks this week:
Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) climbed 6% on Monday following a WSJ report that activist investor Starboard Value had taken a $500M stake in the company. Starboard is pushing for changes at Autodesk, including improved margins, board shakeups, and greater transparency.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) surged past Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) to become the world’s largest publicly listed firm by market capitalization. The chipmaker reached a value of over $3.34 trillion on Tuesday following a staggering rally in its shares. Shares of the company have risen over 180% year-to-date and 200% in the last 12 months, driven by a surge in demand for its AI chips.
Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) surged over 13% on Tuesday after the space systems company signed the largest Electron launch deal in its history. The stock traded as high as $4.85 during the session, which was the highest level seen since February. Short interest on RKLB stands at 18.7% of the total float.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) stock rose over 6% on Thursday after it revised revenue outlook for the fiscal year 2024 and provided revenue guidance for the fourth quarter, which was seen above estimates. Other IT stocks also saw healthy gains on the back of Accenture’s results. This included Globant (GLOB), which rose more than 8%, EPAM Systems (EPAM) rose 6.2% while New Jersey-based Cognizant Technology Solutions rose 4%.
Sarepta (NASDAQ:SRPT) jumped over 30% in extended trading on Thursday after the U.S. FDA granted accelerated approval for a label expansion of its Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment Elevidys to include patients who are non-ambulatory. The stock was trading nearly 39% higher on Friday.
Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) traded more than 20% lower on Thursday after the electric truckmaker said its board approved a 1-for-30 reverse stock split. The stock has lost over 60% so far this year.
KB Home (KBH) shares gained nearly 3% on Thursday as the home building company raised the low end of its 2024 guidance for housing revenue after delivering stronger-than-forecast Q2 2024 earnings and revenue earlier this week.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) dipped more than 5% on Thursday following reports of Samsung’s (OTCPK:SSNLF) new Galaxy Book 4 Edge, which contains the chipmaker’s Snapdragon processor, struggling to run some popular software titles. Other chip stocks including Micron (NASDAQ:MU) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) also fell over 2% on that day.
Palantir (NYSE:PLTR) was also in focus as the stock fell 3% after Monness, Crespi, Hardt downgraded the enterprise software maker, citing worries in the space.
Seeking Alpha Editor Tiyashi Datta contributed to this story.